Term
| "The long love that in my thought doth harbor" |
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Definition
Author: T. Wyatt Genre: Poem-Petrarch sonnet (octave:abba abba and sestet cdc cdc)
summary: The first four lines of this sonnet introduce the 'conceit' (elaborately sustained metaphor) of love as a warrior who, 'with bold pretense' flaunts his presence by means of the 'banner.' (Elaborate metaphors of this kind are common in Petrarchan and Elizabethan love poetry.) The poem varies little in this love as conqueror and the speaker as the conquered theme. And while love no doubt has reign over the speaker, the relationship is like that of subject and king. Love is the speaker’s sovereignty; line 14 says, “for good is the life ending faithfully” This is important because the speaker desires to be the subject of love. This is proven in the speaker’s unending loyalty to love even when love is running away: "unto the heart's forest he fleeth" and he “hideth, and not appeareth.” Wyatt’s poem asks in the last three lines, “What may I do [...] but in the field with him to live and die?” Love is the triumphant lord who while even in the midst of hardships has the loyalty and the protection of his subjects.
The longë love that in my thought doth harbour
And in mine hert doth keep his residence,
Into my face presseth with bold pretence
And therein campeth, spreading his banner.
She that me learneth to love and suffer
And will that my trust and lustës negligence
Be rayned by reason, shame, and reverence,
With his hardiness taketh displeasure.
Wherewithall unto the hert's forest he fleeth,
Leaving his enterprise with pain and cry,
And there him hideth and not appeareth.
What may I do when my master feareth
But in the field with him to live and die?
For good is the life ending faithfully. |
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Author: T. Wyatt Genre: Poem- modified Petrarch sonnet: abba abba cddc ee
Summary: "Whoso List to Hunt," Wyatt describes a hunt wherein a deer is pursued and ultimately owned by the royal who owns the land. Scholars generally believe that the poem is an allegory referring to Anne Boleyn's courtship by King Henry VIII, such that when Wyatt speaks of the deer as royal property not to be hunted by others, he is acknowledging that Anne has become the property of the King alone. Some say Wyatt was also interested in Anne. "Noli me tangere" refers to "Touch me not, for I am Caesar's, which was inscribed on the collars of Caesar's hinds, and then set free and were presumably safe from hunters.
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, helas! I may no more.
The vain travail hath worried me so sore,
I am of them that furthest come behind.
Yet may I by no means, my worried mind
Draw from the deer; but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Since in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Who list her hunt, I put him out of doubt,
As well as I, may spend his time in vain;
And graven in diamonds in letters plain
There is written, her fair neck round about,
"Noli me tangere, for Caesar's I am,
And wild to hold, though I seem tame." |
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Term
| "The Nymph's Reply to the Shepherd" |
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Definition
Author: W. Ralegh Genre: Poem-Rhymed couplets, written in reply to Marlowe's "The passionate Shepherd to his Love"
Summary: It could be considered a criticism, or at least a negative reaction to the original poem, as the nymph is in fact rejecting the shepherd in question quite harshly, and includes many lines that are directly connected to propositions made in Marlowe's poem. This poem by Sir Walter Raleigh uses the same meter and references to present "mirror images" of Marlowe's poem. The feminine persona (the nymph) of the poem sets up a hypothetical set of questions that undermine the intelligence of the man's offer because all that he offers is transitory. She reverses his images into negative ones:
rocks grow cold
fields yield to the harvest
the flocks are driven to fold in winter
rivers rage
birds complain of winter (a reference to the story of Philomela who was raped and turned into a nightingale).
Others read the poem as a critique of the entire pastoral convention, suggesting through its use of Philomel that women are denied a voice in the traditional literature. The last stanza, "But could youth last, and love still breed,/ Had joys no date, nor age no need,/ Then these delights my mind might move/ To live with thee and be thy love," suggests either that the nymph's rejection of the shepherd is related to her own feelings of mortality and the transience of life, or that her acceptance is predicated upon the impossible and, therefore, never to come.
http://www2.latech.edu/~bmagee/201/marlowe/shepherd_&_notes.htm |
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| "The Passionate Shepherd to his Love" |
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Definition
Author: C. Marelowe Genre: Poem-Pastoral lyric: Poetry that expresses emotions in an idyllic setting. It is related to the term "pasture," and is associated with shepherds writing music to their flocks.
Summary: The shepherd pleads with an (assuredly) female lover, to "Come live with me and be my love." He offers her temporary pleasures of nature: from valleys, mountains, and groves to melodious birds, fragrant posies, the finest wool, and buckles of purest gold. His offerings seem to be based in material possessions (like buckles, slippers, kirtle, clasps, amber studs), which are supposed to move the mind of the female. |
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Author: J. Donne Genre: Poem- Petrarchan Sonnet
Summary: The author reprimands death, "Death, be not proud" for those whom Death thinks "thou dost overthrow / die not." The speaker claims that death cannot kill him but "much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow." Instead, Death is a slave to fate, kings, chance, and desperate men, but poppies can do what Death does much better. For "we wake eternally / and death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die." |
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Author: J. Donne Genre: Poem-starts as Petrarchian sonnet: abba abba cdc ecc
Summary: The poem, overall, depicts a somewhat violent love relationship between God and Donne. He writes a love poem to God where he asks him to "batter [his] heart," "o'erthrow [him]," and to "Break, blow, burn, and make [him] new." God is pictured almost as a aggressive force that refines Donne through violence. Donne says he should defend himself ("me should defend"), but he is "captivated." He then admits that he is "betroth'd unto your enemy" and asks God to "break that knot" (probably from sin) and take him to God and "imprison [him]". The ending is provocative when Donne explains that God "enthralls [him], never shall be free, / Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me." |
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Term
| "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" |
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Definition
Author: J. Donne Genre: Poem, metaphysical
Summary: Donne writes this poem to his wife when he leaves for a trip. Even though he is leaving, this should not be an occasion for sorrow. The love of “dull sublunary lovers” cannot survive separation, but it removes that which constitutes the love itself; but the love he shares with his beloved is so refined and “Inter-assured of the mind” that they need not worry about missing “eyes, lips, and hands” or the physicality of love. Donne then employs a metaphysical conceit to describe their love: a compass (that creates a circle). Instead of separating, she should think of his absence as an "expansion" as "they are two so / as stiff twin compasses are two" where one part of the compass stays stationary ("fixed foot") while the other moves about. The part that "far doth roam" leans and "hearkens after" the other half and "grows erect, as that comes home." The speaker justifies his leaving saying, "thy firmness makes my circle just / and makes me end where I began." |
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Author: J. Donne Genre: Poem
Summary: Centering around themes of Neoplatonic love, the poem follows the metaphysical love journey of two individuals becoming one. The first section describes the physical signs of the lover's ecstasy: with hands "firmly cemented" they stare into each other's eyes and see their reflection. As they stare at one another their souls begin to hang "t'wixt her and me" or out of their bodies. While their "souls negotiate there, we like sepulchral lay" with no other physical contact. The second part describes the ecstasy of the souls and how it brings great understanding, "this ecstasy doth unperplex" as the souls mix together and create a "mixture of things." United together the souls understand the human body: "We then, who are this new soul know / of what we are composed and made." The new united soul begins to question the purpose of their former bodies and conclude that "We owe them thanks because they thus / did us to us at firs t convey" In other words, the process of the ecstasy began with their physical bodies and is necessary for the ecstasy and strengthens the senses. The final part of the poem describes how the souls reenter their bodies. The poem reasons that the souls cannot exist without the body first and thus, is integrated together: "As our blood labors to beget / spirits as like souls as it can." The united souls also return to their bodies in hope that they can share what they learned with the rest of the world "To our bodies turn we then, that so Weak men on love revealed may look; love's mysteries" but the two lovers continue to hear their united soul and continue to carry the ecstasy in their bodies. |
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Author: J. Donne Genre: Poem
Summary: The speaker asks his addressee to be quiet, and let him love. If the addressee cannot hold his tongue, the speaker tells him to criticize him for other shortcomings (other than his tendency to love): his palsy, his gout, his “five grey hairs,” or his ruined fortune. The speaker continues to question who is harmed by his love--it has not drowned ships nor flooded lands, and life continues on. The speaker tells his addressee to “Call us what you will,” for it is love that makes them so. He says that the addressee can “Call her one, me another fly,” and that they are also like candles (“tapers”), which burn by feeding upon their own selves (“and at our own cost die”). In each other, the lovers find the eagle and the dove, and together (“we two being one”) they illuminate the riddle of the phoenix, for they “die and rise the same,” just as the phoenix does—though unlike the phoenix, it is love that slays and resurrects them. Even after death, their love will be canonized in poems. All those who hear their story will invoke the lovers, saying that countries, towns, and courts “beg from above / A pattern of your love!” |
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Definition
Author: J. Donne Genre: Poem, metaphysical
Summary: The speaker tells his beloved to look at the flea before them and to note “how little” is that thing that she denies him. For the flea, he says, has sucked first his blood, then her blood, so that now, inside the flea, they are mingled; and that mingling cannot be called “sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead.” The flea has joined them together in a way that, “alas, is more than we would do.” As his beloved moves to kill the flea, the speaker stays her hand, asking her to spare the three lives in the flea: his life, her life, and the flea’s own life. In the flea, he says, where their blood is mingled, they are almost married—no, more than married—and the flea is their marriage bed and marriage temple mixed into one. Though their parents grudge their romance and though she will not make love to him, they are nevertheless united and cloistered in the living walls of the flea. He says that to kill the flea would be sacrilege, “three sins in killing three.”
“Cruel and sudden,” the speaker calls his lover, who has now killed the flea, “purpling” her fingernail with the “blood of innocence.” The speaker asks his lover what the flea’s sin was, other than having sucked from each of them a drop of blood. He says that his lover replies that neither of them is less noble for having killed the flea. It is true, he says, and it is this very fact that proves that her fears are false: If she were to sleep with him (“yield to me”), she would lose no more honor than she lost when she killed the flea. |
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Term
| "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" |
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Definition
Author: R. Herrick Genre: Poem, lyric
Summary: Following the theme of Carpe Diem, the speaker pleads with the virgins to "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may" for "tomorrow [they] will be dying." The narrator goes on to explain how the day is growing older, "the sun, / the higher he's a-getting" and soon the day will be gone. He then explains how youth is "best" when the "blood [is] warmer" and they should not wait until they are old. The last stanza tells the virgins not to be coy, "but use your time" while they can "for having lost but once your prime / you may forever tarry." |
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Term
| "Corinna's Gone A-Maying" |
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Definition
Author: R. Herrick Genre: Poem
Summary: A young man coaxes his beloved, Corinna, to go forth with him to enjoy the delights of a spring morning "while the light / Hangs on the dew-locks of the night." It would be foolish to remain indoors on such a glorious day, he says. Already, many young men and women are out and about and have even become engaged and chosen a priest for the wedding. So let's not waste time, he tells her. Life is short, and "We shall grow old apace, and die / Before we know our liberty." Another Carpe Diem theme. |
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Definition
Author: R. Herrick Genre: Poem
Summery: In this poem, Herrick presents the theme that beauty is at its most alluring when it is in disarray, like flaming October leaves along a footpath or a "winning wave (deserving note) / In the tempestuous petticoat". Another way of stating the theme is that imperfections and inconsistencies can enhance the appeal of a person, a place, a thing, an action, or an idea.
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction:
An erring lace which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher:
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly:
A winning wave (deserving note)
In the tempestuous petticoat:
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part. |
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Definition
Author: A. Marvell Genre: Poem, lyric and metaphysical
Summary: In response to a young man’s declarations of love for a young lady, the lady is playfully hesitant, artfully demure. 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. |
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| Metaphysical Poetry Characteristics |
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Definition
--Startling comparisons or contrasts of a metaphysical (spiritual, transcendent, abstract) quality to a concrete (physical, tangible, sensible) object. In "To His Coy Mistress," for example, Marvell compares love to a vegetable (line 11) in a waggish metaphor.
--Mockery of idealized romantic poetry through crude or shocking imagery, as in lines 27 and 28 ("then worms shall try / That long preserved virginity').
--Gross exaggeration (hyperbole), as in line 15 ("two hundred [years] to adore each breast].
--Expression of personal, private feelings, such as those the young man expresses in "To His Coy Mistress."
--Presentation of a logical argument, or syllogism. In "To His Coy Mistress," this argument may be outlined as follows: (1) We could spend decades or even centuries in courtship if time stood still and we remained young. (2) But time passes swiftly and relentlessly. (3) Therefore, we must enjoy the pleasure of each other now, without further ado. The conclusion of the argument begins at Line 33 with "Now therefore." |
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Term
| "The Mower against Gardens" |
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Definition
Author: A. Marvell Genre: Poem
Summary: In The Mower against Gardens, the Mower is denouncing the corruption he feels typified by the ornate enclosed garden that was coming into vogue in the seventeenth century, fed by the new horticultural advances being made in Holland, and explorers returning from the New World with new plants. He refers to the enormous prices being paid for new types of tulips (l.13), and the great efforts being made to discover new plants (ll.15-18; 24-25). The mower feels this is where man's desire for luxury is most in evidence in his time, rather than in houses, clothes or jewellery. ‘Luxurious man’ is how he opens the poem. Marvell's readers would have remembered luxuria (meaning lust or indulgence) was one of the Seven Deadly Sins, hence ‘his Vice’. The term covers what we mean by ostentatious consumerism and hedonism. The garden of luxurious man's making is just the opposite of the original garden, the Garden of Eden, which is what Marvell describes in his poem The Garden, yet both gardens are, in their way, signs of the Fall of Humankind and fallen nature, both represent Nature (or Creation) corrupted by man.
Imagery: There are other striking conceits, however. The enclosed garden is ‘A dead and standing pool of Air’ (l.6), a forceful natural image suggesting lack of life and therefore of movement. Enclosure brings not only restraint, loss of freedom; the plants become ‘stupifi'd’ and double-minded (l.9). Humans have become tyrants (l.28). Their idols are signified by the new ‘Statues’ (l.37).The imagery is strong, conveying the Mower's indignation in his complaint. Much of it is sexual: we have mentioned ‘to procreate without a sex’ (l.30), perhaps because the new cherry is stoneless. In seventeenth century slang, stones meant ‘testicles’. ‘Seduce’ (l.2) suggests that the vice mentioned in the first line is like sexual appetite. As Satan ‘seduced’ Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:1-7), so now man seduces Nature. Incest is suggested by ‘forbidden mixtures’ (l.22); sexual immorality in ‘adult'rate’ (l.25); sexual luxury in ‘paint ... complexion’ (11.12-13) and ‘Seraglio’ (or harem); and sexual unnaturalness in ‘Eunuchs’ (l.27), echoing the sexless cherry.
See full analysis: http://www.crossref-it.info/textguide/Metaphysical-Poetry/4/945 |
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Author: A. Marvell Genre: Poem
Summary: The poem begins praising nature and that man's achievements cannot come close to nature's beauty. In nature he finds "Fair Quiet" and "innocence" unlike the in the cities and "rude society." The speaker also does not find what he looks for in women, "no whit nor red was ever seen so amorous" and "How far these beauties hers exceed," and the speaker claims he'd rather carve the names of the tree (oak, beech) than the names of women that he loves. The speaker describes the intensity of the fruit of the garden, until he "stumbles" over some melons and "falls" on the grass, alluding to the fall of humankind and the trap that the beauty of nature captures him. He then describes his imagination, or "the mind," that creates "transcending these / far other worlds and other seas / annihilating all that's made / to a green though in a green shade." The speaker suggests that his imagination can transcend the natural beauty and create new worlds. He compares his soul to a bird that is preparing for a longer flight (flight into imagination?) and then returns to his solitary state. He wishes for the "happy garden-state" before Eve arrived "While man walked there without a mate," and to "walk solitary" in the garden. The last stanza ends in references to time and nature: How could such sweet and wholesome hours / be reckoned but with herbs and flowers?"
This poem, which reflects on a beautiful garden in a way which evokes the lost Garden of Eden, is generally considered Marvell's finest work. It is the poem that most clearly expresses his pastoralism and his Platonism.
Marvell now turns back to himself. The richness of the garden he describes anticipates Milton's description of the Garden of Eden in his poem Paradise Lost, books IV and IX. The only ‘fall’ he experiences is not into sin, but being tripped by the luxuriant vegetation, a thought he uses also in Upon Appleton House (ll.650ff.)In general, Marvell is describing a mystical perception in The Garden, though his focus is not on God as such, but a perception of the divine (similar to that which Wordsworth was to experience in the Romantic era). At the same time, he is denying the completeness of the lovers' world. Completeness is possible, he is saying, but only in solitary meditation amidst nature. He moves beyond the traditional forms of pastoral quiet to a theological statement of Platonic idealism. This is his form of Personal freedom: the freedom of the soul to escape its physical limitations.
http://www.crossref-it.info/textguide/Metaphysical-Poetry/4/939 |
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Definition
is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns (theories of being, knowing, substance, etc.) and a common way of investigating them, and whose work was characterized by inventiveness of metaphor (these involved comparisons being known as metaphysical conceits). These poets were not formally affiliated; most of them did not even know or read each other. Their poetry was influenced greatly by the changing times, new sciences and the new found debauched scene of the 17th century. They typically used an intellectual form of argumentation to express emotional states. Members of the group include John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and Andrew Marvell.
T.S. Eliot was influenced by the metaphysical poets. |
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Author: Edmund Spencer; Genre: Sonnet Cycle Publish Date: 1595
Summary: The cycle describes his courtship and eventual marriage to Elizabeth Boyle. The sonnets of Amoretti draw heavily on authors of the Petrarchan tradition. |
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Author: Edmund Spenser Genre: Sonnet
Quote (the final quatrain):
When ye behold that Angels blessed looke,
My soules long-lacked food, my heavens blis,
Leaves, lines, and rymes, seeke her to please alone,
Whom if ye please, I care for other none!
Summary: The poet addresses his poetry, entreating them to please his beloved alone, for “I care for other none”. The metaphor, or “picture,” in this sonnet is the poet as a book that his lover holds in her hands. Spenser uses the common motif of “the Book of Nature” that I discussed earlier with Sidney. The poet tells his lover that she can read him like an open book. Hence, as the first sonnet in the cycle, he is inaugurating his project as a poet, telling his lover that he is going to lay his heart open. At the same time, the metaphor of his lover holding him like a book also suggests that she “holds his life in her hands.” |
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Author: Edmund Spencer; Genre: Elizabethan Sonnet
In this sonnet, Spenser uses another metaphorical “picture.” This time, the picture the poet presents is himeslf as a ship lost at sea without his lover’s love. Without his lover, he has no “star, that wont with her bright ray/ Me to direct,” in other words, without her he has no guiding star, or north star. He has no compass to help him through “a storme.” By line 11, he utters words of “hope,” which is the important Protestant word in prayer. Meanwhile, as he hopes for her return, he must continue on, lost in a storm. Note also how we saw the image / metaphor of an individual lost at sea as far back as Anglo-Saxon poetry.
Lines: Like a ship that through the Ocean wide,
By conduct of some star doth make her way,
Whenas a storm hath dimmed her trusty guide,
Out of her course doth wander far astray.
So I whose star, that wont with her bright ray,
Me to direct, with clouds is overcast,
Do wander now in darkness and dismay,
Through hidden perils round about me plast. |
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Definition
Author: Edmund Spencer; Genre: Elizabethan Sonnet
The speaker describes his love as he kisses her. Her lips smell like "Gillyflowers", her "ruddy cheeks" likes roses"; her goodly bosom like a "strawberry bed"; her breasts are like "lillies" and her nipples like "blossomed Jasmine." These are all the Petrarchean tropes of the love sonnet that Shakespeare would later lambast in Sonnet 130 |
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Author: Edmund Spencer; Genre: Sonnet
Lines: Sweet be the bands, the which true love doth tie,
Without constraint or dread of any ill:
The gentle bird feels no captivity
Within her cage, but sings and feeds her fill.
Here we see a flicker of doubt on the part of the speaker’s fiancée. He assures her that her “feare to loose your liberty” (line 2) is baseless: “Sweete be the bands, the which true loue doth tye,/without constraint or dread of any ill” (lines 5-6). She is not losing her liberty, but gaining “two liberties” (line 3). He then draws a parallel with the bird, which he claims “feeles no captiuity/within her cage” (lines 7-8). Pride and disharmony have no place in such a union of souls “that loyal loue hath bound” (line 10). She need not fear losing her freedom, for she will be the more free (he believes) in the sanctity of marriage. |
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Author: Philip Sidney; Publication date: 1580s; Genre: English Sonnet Sequence
Summary: The name derives from the two Greek words, 'aster' (star) and 'phil' (lover), and the Latin word 'stella' meaning star. Thus Astrophel is the star lover, and Stella is his star. Sidney partly nativized the key features of his Italian model Petrarch, including an ongoing but partly obscure narrative, the philosophical trappings of the poet in relation to love and desire, and musings on the art of poetic creation. Sidney also adopts the Petrarchan rhyme scheme, though he uses it with such freedom that fifteen variants are employed.[1]
Some have suggested that the love represented within the sequence may be a literal one as Sidney evidently connects Astrophel to himself and Stella to Penelope Rich, the wife of a courtier. Payne and Hunter suggest that modern criticism, though not explicitly rejecting this connection, leans more towards the viewpoint that writers happily create a poetic persona, artificial and distinct from themselves. |
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| Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 1 |
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Definition
Author: Philip Sidney Genre: Sonnet
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That the dear She might take some pleasure of my pain:
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe,
Studying inventions fine, her wits to entertain:
Oft turning others' leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sun-burned brain.
But words came halting forth, wanting Invention's stay,
Invention, Nature's child, fled step-dame Study's blows,
And others' feet still seemed but strangers in my way.
Thus great with child to speak, and helpless in my throes,
Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite,
'Fool' said my Muse to me, 'look in thy heart and write.'
The author opens this first sonnet by explaining his motivation for composing the sonnet sequence. He believes that if his love were to read the sonnets, she would eventually return his affection. He argues that her pleasure in his pain would cause her to read his sonnets, and her reading of the sonnets would allow her to know the extent of his affection, which might make her pity the author's situation-and this pity may transform into grace and love. The author also describes his difficulties in composing the sonnet sequence. He has struggled to express the pain and misery of his emotions and has tried to look at other poets' works in order to gain inspiration. Still, he has been unsuccessful. Finally, the author has realized that the only way to fully express his love for Stella in his poetry is to write from his heart. idney's actions of writing about how to compose a love sonnet allow him to do just that: compose a love sonnet. With this in mind, he warns the reader that the emotions expressed in the entire sonnet sequence stem directly from the heart-thus, he cannot be held rationally responsible. The statements in this first sonnet make clear that Sidney (who already can be identified with the author of the love sonnets) is conflicted in his role as a zealous lover and a self-critical poet. This sonnet demonstrates the first of many clashes between reason and passion that appear in the sonnet sequence. He already seems to know that he will never truly win Stella, but he cannot help but desire her. This conflict between contradicting forces is a crucial element of the sequence. |
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| Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 9 |
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Definition
Author: Philip Sidney; Genre: Elizabethan Sonnet Sequence
Poem:Queen Virtue’s court, which some call Stella’s face,
Prepar’d by Nature’s choicest furniture,
Hath his front built of alabaster pure;
Gold in the covering of that stately place.
The door by which sometimes comes forth her Grace
Red porphyr is, which lock of pearl makes sure,
Whose porches rich (which name of cheeks endure)
Marble mix’d red and white do interlace.
The windows now through which this heav’nly guest
Looks o’er the world, and can find nothing such,
Which dare claim from those lights the name of best,
Of touch they are that without touch doth touch,
Which Cupid’s self from Beauty’s mine did draw:
Of touch they are, and poor I am their straw.
Summary: Astrophel describes the different elements of Stella's beautiful face. Her forehead is alabaster; her hair is gold; her mouth is made of red porphir; her teeth are pearls; and her cheeks are a combination of red and white marble. The windows of this palace, Stella's eyes, look over the world, but anyone looking will discover that there is nothing in the world that is as beautiful as Stella's face. Astrophel depicts Stella's beauty as a sort of architectural design of Nature. Not only does her face possess all of Nature's best "furniture" (or facial features), it is equipped with the very best materials: gold, alabaster, pearl, marble, and so forth. Compared to this wealth, Astrophel is nothing but a pauper who tracks in ink and paper. He recognizes that he is unworthy of entering "Queen Virtue's Court." |
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| Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 10 |
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Definition
Author: Philip Sidney; Genre: Sonnet Sequence
Poem: Reason, in faith thou art well serv’d, that still
Wouldst brabbling be with sense and love in me:
I rather wish’d thee climb the Muses’ hill,
Or reach the fruit of Nature’s choicest tree,
Or seek heav’n’s course, or heav’n’s inside to see:
Why shouldst thou toil our thorny soil to till?
Leave sense, and those which sense’s objects be:
Deal thou with powers of thoughts, leave love to will.
But thou wouldst needs fight both with love and sense,
With sword of wit, giving wounds of dispraise,
Till downright blows did foil thy cunning fence:
For soon as they strake thee with Stella’s rays,
Reason thou kneel’dst, and offeredst straight to prove
By reason good, good reason her to love.
Summary: The poem describes the classic battle between sense (here associated with love) and reason. The speaker bids reason to stop meddling with sense and love. It doesn't belong there. The speaker bids it instead to complete a series of impossible tasks rather than try to meddle in the way of love. But finally, Stella looks into the face of Reason and it is cowed, finding rational reasons to love Stella. |
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| Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet 14 |
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Author: Philip Sidney Genre: Sonnet Sequence
Poem: Alas, have I not pain enough, my friend,
Upon whose breast a fiercer gripe doth tire,
Than did on him who first stole down the fire,
While Love on me doth all his quiver spend,
But with your rhubarb words you must contend,
To grieve me worse, in saying that desire
Doth plunge my well-form’d soul even in the mire
Of sinful thoughts, which do in ruin end?
If that be sin which doth the manners frame,
Well stayed with truth in word and faith of deed,
Ready of wit and fearing nought but shame:
If that be sin which in fix’d hearts doth breed
A loathing of all loose unchastity,
Then love is sin, and let me sinful be.
Summary: The poet describes the contradiction between physical passion and spiritual redemption. he speaker presents two different views of love. In the first eight lines, love is a fierce bird of prey and, according to Astrophel's friend, is made up of desire and sinful thoughts. In the final sestet, Astrophel responds to his friend's criticism, expressing a new definition of love. He attempts to show that his friend's view of sin is inflexible and conventional but not true. And if love really is sin, Astrophel will gladly be sinful. n the sonnet, the friend views love as lustful desire. In this perspective, love is sin. Sidney views love in terms of what it can accomplish: enlightenment and attainment of a higher plane of emotion. The sestet of this sonnet, lauding the virtues of love, foreshadows other sonnets that will occur later in the sequence. But of the two views of love in the sonnet, it is the first view of love as a sin that dominates in the first third of the entire sequence. Even so, Astrophel is happy to accept that view and embrace his sinful state. |
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Publication Date: 1609
Sonnet 1
From fairest creatures we desire increase,
That thereby beauty's rose might never die,
But as the riper should by time decease,
His tender heir might bear his memory:
But thou contracted to thine own bright eyes,
Feed'st thy light's flame with self-substantial fuel,
Making a famine where abundance lies,
Thy self thy foe, to thy sweet self too cruel:
Thou that art now the world's fresh ornament,
And only herald to the gaudy spring,
Within thine own bud buriest thy content,
And, tender churl, mak'st waste in niggarding:
Pity the world, or else this glutton be,
To eat the world's due, by the grave and thee.
Commentary: This sonnet starts with the line "From fairest creatures we desire increase" meaning that creatures multiply in order to preserve their beauty. Shakespeare is commenting that creatures age "as the riper should by time decease" therefore by procreating the next generation will preserve a creature's beauty "His tender heir might bear his memory".
The person in this sonnet is described as being too self-absorbed to procreate. Therefore although he is beautiful now, this beauty will eventually fade "the world's fresh ornament / And only herald to the gaudy spring"
Sonnet 1 introduces the themes of the first group of sonnets; it explores themes of Beauty, Passage of human life, and wasteful self-consumption.
Sonnet 1 starts a group of the first seventeen sonnets, often referred to as the procreation sonnets because they are about producing offspring.
The structure of Sonnet 1 is simple. The first quatrain describes that Beauty should propagate. The second quatrain argues that the male in the poem has failed to do this. The third quatrain argues that he should do this otherwise his beauty will whither away, with the final couplet portending doom should he fail.
The image of the young man contracted to his own bright eyes, feeding his "light's flame" is an image of self-absorption.
Context: Sonnets 1-17 are known as the procreation sonnets. They want to convince a young man (the fair one) to have children and pass on his beauty to his children and immortalize his beauty. |
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When I consider every thing that grows
Holds in perfection but a little moment,
That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows
Whereon the stars in secret influence comment;
When I perceive that men as plants increase,
Cheered and cheque'd even by the self-same sky,
Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease,
And wear their brave state out of memory;
Then the conceit of this inconstant stay
Sets you most rich in youth before my sight,
Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay,
To change your day of youth to sullied night;
And all in war with Time for love of you,
As he takes from you, I engraft you new.
Commentary: Shakespeare's Sonnet 15, a procreation sonnet, is a reflection on the destruction of Time and Decay, and its effect on the young man to whom the sonnet is addressed. As Shakespeare explains, men, like plants, stay in a perfect state for only a brief period. In the couplet Shakespeare says that he will wage war on time and, besides urging him to marry (and thus "immortalize" himself through having children), he will make the young man live on through his verse. |
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Often alternately titled "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"
Poem:
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate;
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Context: It is the first sonnet that follows the procreation cycle
Commentary:The poem starts with a flattering question to the beloved—"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" The beloved is both "more lovely and more temperate" than a summer's day. The speaker lists some negative things about summer: it is short—"summer's lease hath all too short a date"—and sometimes the sun is too hot—"Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines." However, the beloved has beauty that will last forever, unlike the fleeting beauty of a summer's day. By putting his love's beauty into the form of poetry, the poet is preserving it forever. "So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee." The lover's beauty will live on, through the poem which will last as long as it can be read.
Even though Shakespeare compares the fair youth to nature, he concludes that nature, though beautiful, is too fleeting (compare to Petrarchan tropes). The youth is more perfect than nature, and Shakespeare is going to elevate him through art -- art, not nature, makes him immortal. It is the only way to capture lasting perfection without end (compare to the Pastoral urge to recapture a prelapsarian state with their Carpe Diems and Ralegh's Reply). |
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Part of the sequence of sonnets in which the speaker considers a sin that the young man was visited upon him. The query of the poem is: does love always have to involve betrayal?
Summary: Don't feel sorry for what you did; everything in nature is flawed or subject to imperfection. All people commit errors; I am making an error in this (ie, this effort to make you feel better). I'm using these natural comparisons to exonerate you, and thus corrupting myself by forgiving you. (Lines 7 and 8 are obscure and contested.) To forgive your sensual fault, I use my sense (presumably common sense or reason); though you have wronged me I am defending you, and as a result, I am forced to argue against my own interests. Indeed, my feelings of love and hate are so confused that I have become an accomplice to you, the very person who is sinning against me.
Important Lines:
Thy adverse party is thy advocate,
And 'gainst myself a lawful plea commence:
Such civil war is in my love and hate,
That I an accessory needs must be,
To that sweet thief which sourly robs from me. |
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Another poet that claims that fair youth's beauty will live on in poetry. This time the claims become more grandiose in nature. The speaker claims that the youth will outlast "the gilded monuments /
Of princes" and that not even war ("Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn / The living record of your memory") will wipe away the memory of the youth because poetry makes him immortal. The youth will live on until the end of time in the poem and in lovers' eyes.
Lines:
Of princes, shall outlive this powerful rhyme;
But you shall shine more bright in these contents
Than unswept stone, besmear'd with sluttish time.
When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword, nor war's quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory. |
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Poem: hey that have power to hurt and will do none,
That do not do the thing they most do show,
Who, moving others, are themselves as stone,
Unmoved, cold, and to temptation slow,
They rightly do inherit heaven's graces
And husband nature's riches from expense;
They are the lords and owners of their faces,
Others but stewards of their excellence.
The summer's flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds.
The speaker writes of those who will "inherit heaven's graces" -- those that are strong, but do not harm others; those that are slow to anger. He then shifts his discussion to a summer flower -- a fleeting object of beauty (perhaps the youth). But if that flower were infected by fowl deeds, then it would be worse than the most base growth in the field (the weed). |
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et me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
A poem about the true, idealized nature of love. THe last couplet is called a paradoxical conceit. If there is no such thing as true love, the poet says that neither has he ever written, nor has anyone ever experienced true love. However, because the poem has been written, it means the poet, ultimately, is right about true love. |
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Poem:
The expense of spirit in a waste of shame
Is lust in action: and till action, lust
Is perjur'd, murderous, bloody, full of blame,
Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight;
Past reason hunted; and no sooner had,
Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait,
On purpose laid to make the taker mad:
Mad in pursuit and in possession so;
Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme;
A bliss in proof,— and prov'd, a very woe;
Before, a joy propos'd; behind a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well
To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
The poem is an attack on lust and sex. It is only good in the pursuit and in the moment, afterwards it is a hell of shame. The end rhyming couplet is extremely didactic: "Avoid the heaven that leads men into hell." |
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One of the more famous sonnets on the nature of love. In the poem, Shakespeare mocks the familiar poetics conventions of love, especially the Petrarchian conventions used to describe one's love. This sonnet compares the Poet’s mistress to a number of natural beauties; each time making a point of his mistress’ obvious inadequacy in such comparisons; she cannot hope to stand up to the beauties of the natural world. The first five couplets compare the speaker’s mistress to aspects of nature, such as snow or coral; each comparison ending unflatteringly for the mistress. In the final couplet, the speaker claims his love for his mistress by claiming that while he makes no strive to create false comparison, he loves his mistress as much as any man could love a woman.
The fabulous ending couplet:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare. |
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Poem:
Two loves I have of comfort and despair,
Which like two spirits do suggest me still:
The better angel is a man right fair,
The worser spirit a woman coloured ill.
To win me soon to hell, my female evil,
Tempteth my better angel from my side,
And would corrupt my saint to be a devil,
Wooing his purity with her foul pride.
And whether that my angel be turned fiend,
Suspect I may, yet not directly tell;
But being both from me, both to each friend,
I guess one angel in another's hell:
Yet this shall I ne'er know, but live in doubt,
Till my bad angel fire my good one out.
Shakespeare discourses on his two lovers: one the bad woman and one the man. A sonnet that is considered by many to be the key to understanding Shakespeare's attitude to love. It plays out the old battle between spiritual and physical love, a subject which had been the jousting field of argument for centuries. The poet seems to ally himself with the traditionalists who believed that the nature of woman was such as to corrupt pure love. In Platonic terms she was the material dross of which bodies were made, but the spiritual ideal love was independent of her, and true love could really only subsist between males. In terms of Christian theology, woman was the devil and was responsible for the fall since she had tempted man to eat forbidden fruit. Any form of congress with a woman was corrupting, and the ideal life would always be one of chastity and abstention from sex. The doctrine was alleviated slightly by devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, but despite giving birth she was a virgin and worshipped as the Blessed Virgin Mary. A mitigation to this view was the reality of life itself, which always returned to insist that the majority of men would continue to desire women. |
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| "To the Memory of My Beloved Master William Shakespeare" |
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George Herbert; Genre: Shape Poem
This poem falls in the category called "shape poems" since it's shape echo's the meaning of the verse. In The Altar there even seems to be an internal visible structure that complements the externally implied meaning. When we isolate the capitalized words from the poem we see the poetic theme in outline form: ALTAR, HEART, SACRIFICE, ALTAR. t has been said that George Herbert's poems are actually a record of his private devotional life. Thus the altar metaphor should provide insight to his personal relationship to God. To "reare" a structure is to raise it up on end which is far more difficult when it is "broken." This brokenness appears to be an expression of a heart felt sense of inadequacy. In line two we learn that the metaphorical altar is actually the poet's heart. A servant often is called upon to render service to his Lord in spite of personal pain, and so he attends to the task with tears. Yet there is reason to believe that this servant recognizes the need to bind together his brokenness using tears as the binding cement. With such devotion Herbert is faithfully expectant that God will sanctify the altar of his heart. God can and will set apart a life that is in submission to Him as though it were His very own. |
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Author: George Herbet; Genre: Shape Poem Published: 1663
George Herbert’s “Easter Wings” is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection, which is presented as the means by which humankind overcomes sin and attains freedom. The poem consists of two ten-line stanzas of varying line lengths, which in their printed form on the page resemble the wings of a bird.
The Easter theme in this poem operates at two levels:
The shape represents a dying or falling, then rising pattern, which is the theme of the Easter story. The top half of each stanza focuses on the problems caused by human sin. The bottom half reflects the hope made possible by the resurrection of Jesus Christ at Easter.
The wings may evoke those of the angels who were said to be present in the empty tomb on Easter Day (John 20:12).
The first stanza
The first stanza or wing traces the decline of humankind outlined in Christian thought. After their creation, Adam and Eve were believed to have experienced the wealth of God’s provision for them in the Garden of Eden but they ‘foolishly’ chose to disobey God and eat the fruit of the forbidden tree. Expelled from the garden and alienated from God, they, and their descendants, were condemned to poverty and wretchedness in a harsh and unwelcoming world. Rather than believing that human beings grow better and better through the centuries, Herbert is reflecting the Christian perspective that human beings had enormous potential, which they have wasted through turning away from God.
Fortunately, there is hope. In the rising part of the stanza, Herbert now talks of himself rising with Christ, like a lark which soars and sings in the spring, close to Eastertide. The alliteration of ‘the fall further the flight in me’ reinforces the paradox of the ‘felix culpa’ or ‘happy fault’ which teaches that the fall of humankind actually had a positive outcome because it resulted in the coming of Christ to bring human beings into a new relationship with God. Herbert is now applying this hope to himself.
The second stanza
The second stanza is parallel in its form, and, in fact, picks up a number of words and phrases from the first. It is more specifically autobiographical, and could be seen as a summary of Affliction I. The second part then becomes a prayer that his previous suffering may help him to fly even higher. ‘Imp’ is a technical term taken from falconry, meaning to graft feathers on to a damaged wing to restore a bird’s power of flight. Herbert is asking to become one with Christ's rising from the dead into new life and to soar towards heaven with him. Herbert may have in mind two passages from the Bible which link the idea of flight and the experience of God’s healing and renewal: Isaiah 40:31 and Malachi 4:2. |
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The poem is a complaint voiced by a soul chafing against the constraints that bind it. Impatient with the human condition, the speaker boldly resolves to break free. "My lines and life are free, free as the road,/ Loose as the wind, as large as store" he insists. Herbert develops four kinds of images in the poem: images of restraints, such as collars, cages, cable, rope. The very title of the poem, "The Collar," suggests something stiff and restrictive, but not harmful, like a noose or shackles; an article of clothing a man wears when he must be at his best. "Collar" connotes the white band worn by the clergy, and perhaps it is the role of priest the poem alludes to. Late in life (if anything in a forty-year lifespan can be considered to be "late"), Herbert took holy orders and therefore wore the clerical collar.
Another important image pattern in the poem is that of the harvest. The clergy, like Christ's twelve disciples, are workers in the vineyard, threshers of the harvest. The speaker, however, feels his only harvest has been a thorn that has made him bleed (7,8). His "sighs" and "tears" (11,12) have made him ruin the fruits of his labors. Perhaps Herbert means that, when done in the wrong spirit, service is fruitless; self-pity cancels out the good. The speaker mourns for "bays to crown" the year, for "flowers [and] garlands gay" (14, 15), emblems of personal rewards, accomplishments, and pleasures. When, earlier in the poem, he mentions "My lines" as being "free" (4), he may be referring to his poetry. Perhaps he wishes for greater recognition of a worldly sort for his talents. He wonders if he's given up too much, let many of life's rewards pass him by.
But a second turn occurs near the end of the poem, when the speaker leaves off his tirade long enough to hear "one calling, Child!" We are immediately aware of two things: first, that the plaintive note in the speaker is silenced, the restiveness is passed; and second, that no master calls a mere servant "child." Herbert clearly means for us to be surprised that the master is a divine one (He didn't realize that the only poem sure to be anthologized everywhere would be "Easter Wings," thus tipping us off to his religious leanings). The effect of this set-up is, perhaps, to evoke in the reader an identification with the whole situation, a recognition that we've all been there, whether our lives are modeled to conform with religious ideals, or mere humanist ones. We sometimes chafe at the restraints imposed by our ideals, but can just as quickly be called back to them.
Important Lines:
"I struck the board and cried, "No more;
I will abroad!
What? shall I ever sigh and pine?
My lines and life are free, free as the road,
Loose as the wind, as large as store.
Shall I be still in suit?"
"Sure there was wine
Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn
Before my tears did drown it.
Is the year only lost to me?
Have I no bays to crown it,
No flowers, no garlands gay? All blasted?
All wasted?"
"But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Methought I heard one calling, Child!
And I replied, My Lord." |
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Author: J. Milton Genre: Epic
Summary: Milton’s speaker invokes the muse, a mystical source of poetic inspiration, to sing about these subjects through him, but he makes it clear that he refers to a different muse from the muses who traditionally inspired classical poets by specifying that his muse inspired Moses to receive the Ten Commandments and write Genesis. Milton’s muse is the Holy Spirit, which inspired the Christian Bible, not one of the nine classical muses who reside on Mount Helicon—the “Aonian mount” of I.15. He says that his poem, like his muse, will fly above those of the Classical poets and accomplish things never attempted before, because his source of inspiration is greater than theirs. Then he invokes the Holy Spirit, asking it to fill him with knowledge of the beginning of the world, because the Holy Spirit was the active force in creating the universe.Milton’s speaker announces that he wants to be inspired with this sacred knowledge because he wants to show his fellow man that the fall of humankind into sin and death was part of God’s greater plan, and that God’s plan is justified ("Justify the ways of God to man")
Satan lies stunned beside his second-in-command, Beelzebub, in a lake of fire that gives off darkness instead of light. Breaking the awful silence, Satan bemoans their terrible position, but does not repent of his rebellion against God, suggesting that they might gather their forces for another attack. Beelzebub is doubtful; he now believes that God cannot be overpowered. Satan does not fully contradict this assessment, but suggests that they could at least pervert God’s good works to evil purposes. The two devils then rise up and, spreading their wings, fly over to the dry land next to the flaming lake. But they can undertake this action only because God has allowed them to loose their chains. God still intends to turn their evil deeds toward the good.particular, as he explains to Beelzebub, he wishes to pervert God’s will and find a way to make evil out of good. It is not easy for Satan to maintain this determination; the battle has just demonstrated God’s overwhelming power, and the devils could not even have lifted themselves off the lake of fire unless God had allowed it. God allows it precisely because he intends to turn their evil designs toward a greater good in the end. Satan’s envy of the Son’s chosen status led him to rebel and consequently to be condemned. His continued envy and search for freedom leads him to believe that he would rather be a king in Hell than a servant in Heaven. Satan’s pride has caused him to believe that his own free intellect is as great as God’s will. Satan remarks that the mind can make its own Hell out of Heaven, or in his case, its own Heaven out of Hell. He rallies the demons together and they build "pandemonium" to discuss a plan of action. |
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Author: J. Milton Genre: Epic poem
Summary: Milton opens with a second invocation to the "holy light" and asks to be divinely inspired. God has been watching the events from heaven and the book follows the conversation between him and his son, Jesus. God perceives the past, present, and future. He sees that man will fall, of his own fault, because God gave him free will—yet without that will, man would not be capable of sincere love. God determines that he will act out of love and mercy for mankind's actions, and the Son praises God for his compassion. The son, then, offers himself as a sacrifice for humankind so justice can be served.
Meanwhile, Satan finds the Garden of Eden and disguises himself as a cherub. Uriel, the guardian of the garden, cannot detect Satan's ruse and points to where Adam and Eve are staying. Satan flies off with dark intentions. |
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Author: J. Milton Genre: Epic poem
Summary: Satan begins to rethink his actions when he sees the innocence of the Garden, but quickly realizes he could never truly repent for his actions. From afar Uriel sees Satan's conflicting emotions and realizes he cannot be a cherub (who have permanent smiles of joy on their faces). Satan continues to peruse the idyllic world, noticing all the varieties of animals and trees and then spots the Tree of Life next to the Tree of Knowledge. When Satan sees Adam and Eve, his hatred and anger intensify. He then learns, as Adam and Eve discuss, that they cannot eat of the tree of knowledge. Eve tells Adam of her first awakening as she came to life and how she wondered who and where she was. She found a river and followed it upstream to its source. Her path led to a clear, smooth lake, and Eve looked into the lake, seeing an image in its surface, which she soon discovers is her own. She hears a voice explaining to her that she was made out of Adam, and with him she will become the mother of the human race. Uriel goes to Archangel Gabriel and they discuss the intruder. Night falls, and Gabriel sends search parties into the Garden. Two of his angels find Satan, disguised as a toad, whispering into the ear of Eve as she sleeps. They kick him out of the garden. |
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Author: J. Milton Genre: Epic poem
Summary: Satan returns to the Garden of Eden and considers what disguise he should assume--a snake. Before he can continue, however, he again hesitates—not because of doubt this time, but because of his grief at not being able to enjoy this wondrous new world. He struggles to control his thoughts. He now believes that the Earth is more beautiful than Heaven ever was, and becomes jealous of Adam and Eve and their chosen status to occupy and maintain Paradise. He gripes that the excess beauty of Earth causes him to feel more torment and anguish. The next morning, Adam and Eve prepare for their usual morning labors. Realizing that they have much work to do, Eve suggests that they work separately, so that they might get more work done. Adam is not keen on this idea. He fears that they will be more susceptible to Satan’s temptation if they are alone. Eve, however, is eager to have her strength tested. After much resistance, Adam concedes, as Eve promises Adam that she will return to their bower soon. They go off to do their gardening independently. Satan finds Eve in the garden and begins the temptation. He flatters Eve by saying that eating the apple also made him seek her out in order to worship her beauty. Satan reasons that God only forbids eating of the tree of knowledge to show them their independence. Eve desires to know more.God would have no reason to forbid the fruit unless it were powerful, Eve thinks, and seeing it right before her eyes makes all of the warnings seem exaggerated. It looks so perfect to Eve. She reaches for an apple, plucks it from the tree, and takes a bite. The Earth then feels wounded and nature sighs in woe, for with this act, humankind has fallen. Adam is horrified but decides he cannot live without Eve and also eats the fruit. He turns a lustful eye on Eve, and they run off into the woods for sexual play. Adam and Eve fall asleep briefly, but upon awakening they see the world in a new way. They recognize their sin, and realize that they have lost Paradise. At first, Adam and Eve both believe that they will gain glorious amounts of knowledge, but the knowledge that they gained by eating the apple was only of the good that they had lost and the evil that they had brought upon themselves. They now see each other’s nakedness and are filled with shame. They cover themselves with leaves. Milton explains that their appetite for knowledge has been fulfilled, and their hunger for God has been quenched. Angry and confused, they continue to blame each other for committing the sin, while neither will admit any fault. Their shameful and tearful argument continues for hours. |
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Author: J. Milton Genre: Epic Poem
Summary: Michael relates the story of humankind to Adam: From the tower of Babel to Jesus' first coming. After many different rulers, there will come a king named David, and from his descendants will eventually come a Messiah, or chosen one. This Messiah, also known as Jesus or the Son, will once again bring together Earth and Heaven. However, he will have to suffer for it: he shall be hated by many while he lives and will be distrusted, betrayed, and punished by death. However, the grave will not hold this Messiah for long, and rising up he will defeat both Sin and Death, and bruise the head of Satan. His resurrection fulfills the prophecy about the Son finally punishing Satan through his sacrifice. Adam worries that the followers of Jesus will be persecuted, and Michael confirms that they will indeed be persecuted. However, the Archangel says, from Heaven the Messiah will send down the Holy Spirit to provide spiritual protection. But after the first followers die, corrupt leaders as well as good ones will enter the church. Thus those who genuinely follow the truth will still be prosecuted, laments Michael: the world will continue to accommodate evil and make it difficult for individuals to do good deeds. Finally, the Messiah will return a second time, to judge all humankind and reunite Heaven and Earth.
Adam is now more than comforted. He can hardly believe that out of his evil deed so much good will come. Now, however, it is time for him and Eve to leave Paradise. He comes down from the mountain with Michael. Eve awakens from her sleep and tells Adam that she has had an educating dream. Michael then leads the couple to the gate of Eden. There he stands with other angels, brandishing a sword of flame that will forever protect the entrance to Paradise. Slowly and tearfully, Adam and Eve turn away hand in hand with Michael, and wander out into a new world. |
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Author: W. Shakespeare Genre: Drama, Tragedy.
Characters: Hamlet-Prince of Denmark. Claudius-King of Denmark (Hamlet's uncle and villain). Gertrude-Queen of Denmark (Hamlet's mother). Polonius-Father of Laertes and Ophelia. Horatio-Hamlet's close friend. Ophelia-Polonius's daughter, descends into madness and drowns herself. Laertes-Polonius's son and Ophelia's brother. Fortinbras-prince of Norway seeking revenge on the King of Denmark. The ghost- Hamlet's dead father.
Summary: A Ghost resembling the recently deceased king appears in Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. Speaking to Hamlet, the Ghost declares he was murdered by Claudius and orders Hamlet to take revenge. Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father, but he appears to enter into melancholy and madness. Worried, Claudius and Gertrude put Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to watch his behavior. Polonius suggests that Hamlet may be madly in love with his daughter Ophelia and they set up a meeting. Claudius agrees to spy on Hamlet in conversation with the girl. But though Hamlet certainly seems mad, he does not seem to love Ophelia: he orders her to enter a nunnery and declares that he wishes to ban marriages.
Hamlet orders a performance that reenacts Claudius's evil deed, hoping he will react--and he does by leaving the room. Assured of Claudius's guilt, Hamlet seeks to kill him, but does not because he is in prayer. Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry. Hearing a noise from behind the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there. He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this crime, he is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Claudius’s plan for Hamlet includes more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed orders for the King of England demanding that Hamlet be put to death. Ophelia goes mad with the news of her father's death and Claudius concocts a plan to kill Hamlet upon his return to Denmark. Laertes will fence with Hamlet in innocent sport, but Claudius will poison Laertes’ blade so that if he draws blood, Hamlet will die. As a backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the match. Laertes and Hamlet begin a sword fight. Gertrude drinks from the goblet and dies and Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet with the poison sword but he also wounds himself and dies. amlet then stabs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet dies immediately after achieving his revenge. Fortinbras enters to discover the bloody scene and takes over the kingdom. |
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The Faerie Queene
Books I and IIII |
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Author: Edmund Spenser; Genre: English Epic,all in the classical epic style; Spenser notes that his structure follows those of Homer and Virgil. Each Book concerns the story of a knight, representing a particular Christian virtue, as he or she would convey at the court of the Faerie Queene. Published: 1590
Context: Though it takes place in a mythical land, The Faerie Queen was intended to relate to Spenser's England, most importantly in the area of religion. Spenser lived in post-Reformation England, which had recently replaced Roman Catholicism with Protestantism (specifically, Anglicanism) as the national religion.
Summary: In Books I and III, the poet follows the journeys of two knights, Redcrosse and Britomart, and in doing so he examines the two virtues he considers most important to Christian life--Holiness and Chastity. Redcrosse, the knight of Holiness, is much like the Apostle Peter: In his eagerness to serve his Lord, he gets himself into unforeseen trouble that he is not yet virtuous enough to handle. His quest is to be united with Una, who signifies Truth--Holiness cannot be attained without knowledge of Christian truth. In his immature state, he mistakes falsehood for truth by following the deceitful witch Duessa. He pays for this mistake with suffering, but in the end, this suffering makes way for his recovery in the House of Holiness, aided by Faith, Hope, and Charity. With newfound strength and the grace of God, he is able to conquer the dragon that represents all the evil in the world.
In a different manner, Britomart also progresses in her virtue of chastity. She already has the strength to resist lust, but she is not ready to accept love, the love she feels when she sees a vision of her future husband in a magic mirror. She learns to incorporate chaste resistance with active love, which is what Spenser sees as true Christian love: moderation. Whereas Redcrosse made his own mistakes (to show to us the consequences of an unholy life), it is not Britomart but the other characters in Book III who show the destructive power of an unchaste life. Spenser says in his Preface to the poem that his goal is to show how a virtuous man should live. The themes of Book I and Book III come together in the idea that our native virtue must be augmented or transformed if it is to become true Christian virtue. Spenser has a high regard for the natural qualities of creatures; he shows that the satyrs, the lion, and many human characters have an inborn inclination toward the good. And yet, he consistently shows their failure when faced with the worst evils. These evils can only be defeated by the Christian good.
High on Spenser's list of evils is the Catholic Church, and this enmity lends a political overtone to the poem, since the religious conflicts of the time were inextricably tied to politics. The poet is unashamed in his promotion of his beloved monarch, Queen Elizabeth; he takes considerable historical license in connecting her line with King Arthur. Spenser took a great pride in his country and in his Protestant faith. He took aim at very real corruption within the Catholic Church; such attacks were by no means unusual in his day, but his use of them in an epic poem raised his criticism above the level of the propagandists.
As a purely poetic work, The Faerie Queene was neither original nor always remarkable; Spenser depends heavily on his Italian romantic sources (Ariosto & Tasso), as well as medieval and classical works like The Romance of the Rose and The Aeneid . It is Spenser's blending of such diverse sources with a high-minded allegory that makes the poem unique and remarkable. He is able to take images from superficial romances, courtly love stories, and tragic epics alike, and give them real importance in the context of the poem. No image is let fall from Spenser's pen that does not have grave significance, and this gives The Faerie Queene the richness that has kept it high among the ranks of the greatest poetry in the English language. |
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| Characters of Book I of the Fairy Queen |
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Arthur - The central hero of the poem, although he does not play the most significant role in its action. Arthur is in search of the Faerie Queene, whom he saw in a vision. The "real" Arthur was a king of the Britons in the 5th or 6th century A.D., but the little historical information we have about him is overwhelmed by his legend.
Faerie Queene (also known as Gloriana) - Though she never appears in the poem, the Faerie Queene is the focus of the poem; her castle is the ultimate goal or destination of many of the poem’s characters. She represents Queen Elizabeth, among others.
Redcrosse - The Redcrosse Knight is the hero of Book I; he stands for the virtue of Holiness. His real name is discovered to be George, and he ends up becoming St. George, the patron saint of England. On another level, though, he is the individual Christian fighting against evil--or the Protestant fighting the Catholic Church.
Una - Redcrosse's future wife, and the other major protagonist in Book I. She is meek, humble, and beautiful, but strong when it is necessary; she represents Truth, which Redcrosse must find in order to be a true Christian.
Duessa - The opposite of Una, she represents falsehood and nearly succeeds in getting Redcrosse to leave Una for good. She appears beautiful, but it is only skin-deep.
Archimago - Next to Duessa, a major antagonist in Book I. Archimago is a sorcerer capable of changing his own appearance or that of others; in the end, his magic is proven weak and ineffective.
Satyrane - Satyrane is the son of a human and a satyr (a half-human, half-goat creature). He is "nature's knight," the best a man can be through his own natural abilities without the enlightenment of Christianity and God's grace. He is significant in both Book I and Book III, generally as an aide to the protagonists. |
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Author: Christopher Marlowe Genre: Tragedy Published: 1590; Marlowe was a contemporary of Shakespeare
D octor Faustus, a well-respected German scholar, grows dissatisfied with the limits of traditional forms of knowledge—logic, medicine, law, and religion—and decides that he wants to learn to practice magic. he begins his new career as a magician by summoning up Mephastophilis, a devil. Despite Mephastophilis’s warnings about the horrors of hell, Faustus tells the devil to return to his master, Lucifer, with an offer of Faustus’s soul in exchange for twenty-four years of service from Mephastophilis. Faustus experiences some misgivings and wonders if he should repent and save his soul; in the end, though, he agrees to the deal, signing it with his blood. austus again has second thoughts, but Mephastophilis bestows rich gifts on him and gives him a book of spells to learn. Later, Mephastophilis answers all of his questions about the nature of the world, refusing to answer only when Faustus asks him who made the universe. This refusal prompts yet another bout of misgivings in Faustus, but Mephastophilis and Lucifer bring in personifications of the Seven Deadly Sins to prance about in front of Faustus, and he is impressed enough to quiet his doubts. Armed with his new powers and attended by Mephastophilis, Faustus begins to travel. He goes to the pope’s court in Rome, makes himself invisible, and plays a series of tricks. He disrupts the pope’s banquet by stealing food and boxing the pope’s ears. Following this incident, he travels through the courts of Europe, with his fame spreading as he goes. As the twenty-four years of his deal with Lucifer come to a close, Faustus begins to dread his impending death. He has Mephastophilis call up Helen of Troy, the famous beauty from the ancient world, and uses her presence to impress a group of scholars. An old man urges Faustus to repent, but Faustus drives him away. Faustus summons Helen again and exclaims rapturously about her beauty. But time is growing short. Faustus tells the scholars about his pact, and they are horror-stricken and resolve to pray for him. On the final night before the expiration of the twenty-four years, Faustus is overcome by fear and remorse. He begs for mercy, but it is too late. At midnight, a host of devils appears and carries his soul off to hell. In the morning, the scholars find Faustus’s limbs and decide to hold a funeral for him. |
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MEPHASTOPHILIS.: Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscribed
In one self-place; for where we are is hell,
And where hell is, there must we ever be.
. . .
All places shall be hell that is not heaven.
FAUSTUS: Come, I think hell’s a fable.
MEPHASTOPHILISs.: Ay, think so still, till experience change thy mind.
. . .
FAUSTUS: Think’st thou that Faustus is so fond to imagine
That after this life there is any pain?
Tush, these are trifles and mere old wives’ tales. |
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Was this the face that launched a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss:
Her lips sucks forth my soul, see where it flies!
Come Helen, come, give me my soul again.
Here will I dwell, for heaven be in these lips,
And all is dross that is not Helena! |
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Cursed be the parents that engendered me:
No, Faustus, curse thy self, curse Lucifer,
That hath deprived thee of the joys of heaven.
. . .
My God, my God, look not so fierce on me!
. . .
Ugly hell gape not! Come not, Lucifer!
I’ll burn my books—ah, Mephastophilis! |
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| The final lines of Dr. Faustus |
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Author: Ben Jonson; Genre: Black comedy and beast fable;
A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is among the finest Jacobean comedies.
Plot: Volpone, a Venetian gentleman, is pretending to be on his deathbed after a long illness in order to dupe Voltore, Corbaccio and Corvino, who aspire to his fortune. They each arrive in turn, bearing extravagant gifts with the aim of being inscribed as Volpone's heir. Mosca, Volpone's assistant, encourages them, making each of them believe that he has been named in the will, and getting Corbaccio to disinherit his son in favour of Volpone.
Mosca mentions in passing that Corvino has a beautiful wife, Celia, and Volpone goes to see her in the disguise of Scoto the Mountebank. Corvino drives him away, but Volpone is now insistent that he must have Celia for his own. Mosca tells Corvino that Volpone requires sex with a young woman to help revive him, and will be very grateful to whoever provides the lady. Corvino offers Celia.
Just before Corvino and Celia are due to arrive for this tryst to take place, Corbaccio's son Bonario arrives to catch his father in the act of disinheriting him. Mosca ushers him into a sideroom. Volpone is left alone with Celia, and after failing to seduce her with promises of luxurious items and role-playing fantasies, attempts to rape her. Bonario sees this, comes out of hiding and rescues Celia. However, in the ensuing courtroom sequence, the truth is well-buried by the collusion of Mosca, Volpone and all three of the dupes.
Volpone now insists on disguising himself as an officer and having it announced that he has died and left all his wealth to Mosca. This enrages Voltore, Corbaccio and Corvino, and everyone returns to court. Despite Volpone's pleas, Mosca refuses to give up his wealthy new role, and Volpone decides to reveal himself in order to take Mosca down with him. They, Voltore, Corbaccio and Corvino are punished.
This main plot is interspersed with episodes involving the English travellers Sir and Lady Politic Would-Be and Peregrine. Sir Politic constantly talks of plots and his outlandish business plans, while Lady Would-Be annoys Volpone with her ceaseless talking. Mosca co-ordinates a mix-up between them which leaves Peregrine, a more sophisticated traveller, feeling offended. He humiliates Sir Politic by telling him he is to be arrested for sedition, and making him hide inside a giant tortoise shell.
Characters:
Volpone (the Big Fox) – a greedy, childless Venetian nobleman
Mosca (the Fly) – his servant
Voltore (the Vulture) – a lawyer
Corbaccio (the Raven) – an avaricious old miser
Bonario – Corbaccio's son
Corvino (the Carrion Crow) – a merchant
Celia – Corvino's wife
Sir Politic Would-Be – ridiculous Englishman. Probably partly based on Sir Henry Wotton, and partly on the traveller, Anthony Shirley.
Lady Would-Be (the parrot) – English lady and wife of Sir Politic-Would-Be
Peregrine – another, more sophisticated, English traveller
Nano – a dwarf, companion of Volpone
Androgyno – a hermaphrodite, companion of Volpone
Castrone – a eunuch, companion of Volpone
The Avocatori – the judges of Venice |
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Author: Shakespeare; Genre: Tragedy; Performed: 1608 (about)
The short, short version: The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.
Plot: King Lear, who is elderly, wants to retire from power. He decides to divide his realm among his three daughters, and offers the largest share to the one who loves him best. Goneril and Regan both proclaim in fulsome terms that they love him more than anything in the world, which pleases him. For Cordelia, there is nothing to compare her love to, nor words to properly express it; she speaks honestly but bluntly, which infuriates him. In his anger he disinherits her, and divides the kingdom between Regan and Goneril. Kent objects to this unfair treatment. Lear is further enraged by Kent's protests, and banishes him from the country. Cordelia's two suitors enter. Learning that Cordelia has been disinherited, the Duke of Burgundy withdraws his suit, but the King of France is impressed by her honesty and marries her.
Lear announces he will live alternately with Goneril and Regan, and their husbands, the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall respectively. He reserves to himself a retinue of one hundred knights, to be supported by his daughters. Goneril and Regan speak privately, agreeing that Lear is old and foolish.
Edmund resents his illegitimate status, and plots to supplant his legitimate older brother Edgar. He tricks their father Gloucester with a forged letter, making him think Edgar plans to usurp the estate. Kent returns from exile in disguise under the name of Caius, and Lear hires him as a servant. Lear discovers that now that Goneril has power, she no longer respects him. She orders him to behave better and reduces his retinue. Enraged, Lear departs for Regan's home. The Fool mocks Lear's misfortune. Edmund fakes an attack by Edgar, and Gloucester is completely taken in. He disinherits Edgar and proclaims him outlaw.
Kent meets Oswald at Gloucester's home, quarrels with him, and is put in the stocks by Regan and her husband Cornwall. When Lear arrives, he objects, but Regan takes the same line as Goneril. Lear is enraged but impotent. Goneril arrives and echoes Regan. Lear yields completely to his rage. He rushes out into a storm to rant against his ungrateful daughters, accompanied by the mocking Fool. Kent later follows to protect him. Gloucester protests against Lear's mistreatment. Wandering on the heath after the storm, Lear meets Edgar, in the guise of Tom o' Bedlam, that is, a madman. Edgar babbles madly while Lear denounces his daughters. Kent leads them all to shelter.
Edmund betrays Gloucester to Cornwall, Regan, and Goneril. He shows a letter from his father to the King of France asking for help against them; and in fact a French army has landed in Britain. Gloucester is arrested, and Cornwall gouges out his eyes. As he is doing so, a servant is overcome with rage by what he is witnessing and attacks Cornwall, killing him. Regan kills the servant, and tells Gloucester that Edmund betrayed him; then she turns him out to wander the heath too. Edgar, in his madman's guise as Tom, meets blinded Gloucester on the heath. Gloucester begs Tom to lead him to a cliff so that he may jump to his death.
Goneril meets Edmund and discovers that she finds him more attractive than her honest husband Albany, whom she regards as cowardly. Albany is disgusted by the sisters' treatment of Lear, and the mutilation of Gloucester, and denounces Goneril. Kent leads Lear to the French army, which is accompanied by Cordelia. But Lear is half-mad and terribly embarrassed by his earlier follies. Albany leads the British army to meet the French. Regan too is attracted to Edmund, and the two sisters become jealous of each other. Goneril sends Oswald with letters to Edmund and also tells Oswald to kill Gloucester if he sees him. Edgar pretends to lead Gloucester to a cliff, then changes his voice and tells Gloucester he has miraculously survived a great fall. They meet Lear, who is now completely mad. Lear rants that the whole world is corrupt and runs off.
Oswald tries to kill Gloucester but is slain by Edgar. In Oswald's pocket, Edgar finds a letter from Goneril to Edmund suggesting the murder of Albany. Kent and Cordelia take charge of Lear, whose madness largely passes. Regan, Goneril, Albany, and Edmund meet with their forces. Albany insists that they fight the French invaders but not harm Lear or Cordelia. The two sisters lust for Edmund, who has made promises to both. He considers the dilemma and plots the deaths of Albany, Lear, and Cordelia. Edgar gives Goneril's letter to Albany. The armies meet in battle, the British defeat the French, and Lear and Cordelia are captured. Edmund sends them off with secret orders for execution.
The victorious British leaders meet, and Regan now declares she will marry Edmund. But Albany exposes the intrigues of Edmund and Goneril and proclaims Edmund a traitor. Regan collapses; Goneril has poisoned her. Edmund defies Albany, who calls for a trial by combat. Edgar appears to fight Edmund and fatally stabs him in a duel. Albany shows Goneril's letter to her; she flees in shame and rage. Edgar reveals himself; Gloucester dies offstage from the overwhelming shock and joy of this revelation.
Offstage, Goneril stabs herself and confesses to poisoning Regan. Dying Edmund reveals his order to kill Lear and Cordelia, but it is too late: Cordelia is dead though Lear slew the killer. Lear carries the dead Cordelia in his arms onstage. Lear recognises Kent. Albany urges Lear to resume his throne, but Lear is too far gone in grief and hardship. Lear collapses and dies. Albany offers to share power between Kent and Edgar. At the end, either Albany or Edgar (depending on whether one reads the Quarto or the Folio version) is crowned King.
Themes: Justice, Authority vs. Chaos, Reconciliation, Madness, Betrayal, Dangerous women
Symbols: The Storm representing Lear's mounting madness; Blindness (both figurative and literal) |
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Prospero
The play’s protagonist and Miranda’s father. Twelve years before the events of the play, Prospero was the duke of Milan. His brother, Antonio, in concert with Alonso, king of Naples, usurped him, forcing him to flee in a boat with his daughter. The honest lord Gonzalo aided Prospero in his escape. Prospero has spent his twelve years on an island refining the magic that gives him the power he needs to punish and reconcile with his enemies.
Miranda
Prospero’s daughter, whom he brought with him to the island when she was still a small child. Miranda has never seen any men other than her father and Caliban, although she dimly remembers being cared for by female servants as an infant. Because she has been sealed off from the world for so long, Miranda’s perceptions of other people tend to be naïve and non-judgmental. She is compassionate, generous, and loyal to her father.
Ariel
Prospero’s spirit helper, a powerful supernatural being whom Prospero controls completely. Rescued by Prospero from a long imprisonment (within a tree) at the hands of the witch Sycorax, Ariel is Prospero’s servant until Prospero decides to release him. He is mischievous and ubiquitous, able to traverse the length of the island in an instant and change shapes at will. Ariel carries out virtually every task Prospero needs accomplished in the play.
Caliban
Another of Prospero’s servants. Caliban, the son of the now-deceased witch Sycorax, acquainted Prospero with the island when Prospero arrived. Caliban believes that the island rightfully belongs to him and that Prospero stole it. Caliban’s speech and behavior is sometimes coarse and brutal, sometimes eloquent and sensitive, as in his rebukes of Prospero in Act 1, scene 2, and in his description of the eerie beauty of the island.
Ferdinand
Son and heir of Alonso. Ferdinand seems in some ways to be as pure and naïve as Miranda. He falls in love with her upon first sight and happily submits to servitude in order to win Prospero’s approval.
Alonso
King of Naples and father of Ferdinand. Alonso aided Antonio in unseating Prospero as duke of Milan twelve years before. Over the course of the play, Alonso comes to regret his past actions and desire a reconciliation with Prospero.
Antonio
Prospero’s thoroughly wicked brother who betrayed Prospero’s trust and stole his dukedom years before the play begins. Once on the island, Antonio wastes no time demonstrating that he is still power-hungry and murderous, persuading Sebastian to help him kill Alonso. Though Prospero forgives him at the end of the play, Antonio never repents for his misdeeds.
Sebastian
Alonso’s brother. Like Antonio, Sebastian is wicked and underhanded. Antonio easily persuades him to agree to kill Alonso. Also like Antonio, Sebastian is unrepentant at the end of the play.
Gonzalo
An old, honest lord. The goodhearted Gonzalo helped Prospero and Miranda to escape and survive after Antonio usurped Prospero’s title. During the play, Gonzalo does his best to cheer up the despondent Alonso, maintains an optimistic outlook on the island where they’re standed, and remains unfazed by the insulting taunts of Antonio and Sebastian.
Trinculo and Stefano
Two minor members of the shipwrecked party. Trinculo, a jester, and Stefano, a drunken butler, provide a comic foil to the other, more powerful pairs of Prospero and Alonso and Antonio and Sebastian. Their drunken boasting and petty greed reflect and deflate the quarrels and power struggles of Prospero and the other noblemen. |
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| Shakespeare's Romance as Genre |
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Not a generic classification in Shakespeare's time. The modern term "romance" refers to a new kind of play, a hybrid of comic and tragic elements, developed and popularized by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher between 1607 and 1613 (their Philaster, 1609, is typical of the genre). At the end of his theatrical career, Shakespeare wrote four such plays which are now commonly grouped together as the Romances: Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.
hile tragedy emphasizes evil, and comedy minimizes it, romance acknowledges evil -- the reality of human suffering. Tragedy involves irreversible choices made in a world where time leads inexorably to the tragic conclusion. In Romance, time seems to be "reversible"; there are second chances and fresh starts. As a result, categories such as cause and effect, beginning and end, are displaced by a sense of simultaneity and harmony. Tragedy depicts alienation and destruction, Romance, reconciliation and restoration. In tragedies, characters are destroyed as a result of their own actions and choices; in Romance, characters respond to situations and events rather than provoking them. Tragedy tends to be concerned with revenge, Romance with forgiveness. Plot structure in Romance moves beyond that of tragedy: an event with tragic potential leads not to tragedy but to a providential experience. The providential "happy ending" of a Romance bears a superficial resemblance to that of a comedy. But while the tone of comedy is genial and exuberant, Romance has a muted tone of happiness -- joy mixed with sorrow. Like comedies, Romances tend to end with weddings, but the focus is less on the personal happiness of bride and groom (the culmination of an individual passion) than on the healing of rifts within the total human community. Thus, whereas comedy focusses on youth, Romance often has middle-aged and older protagonists in pivotal roles.
Romance is unrealistic. Supernatural elements abound, and characters often seem "larger than life" (e.g. Prospero) or one-dimensional (e.g. Miranda and Ferdinand). Plots are not particularly logical (cause and effect are often ignored). The action, serious in theme, subject matter and tone, seems to be leading to a tragic catastrophe until an unexpected trick brings the conflict to harmonious resolution. The "happy ending" may seem unmotivated or contrived, not unlike the deus ex machina ("God out of the [stage] machinery") endings of classical comedy (where a God appears at the end of the play to "fix" everything). Realism is not the point. Romance requires us to suspend disbelief in the "unrealistic" nature of the plot and experience it on its own terms. |
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Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange. |
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| Quote from the Tempest; TS Eliot uses the reference in The Wasteland |
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You taught me language, and my profit on’t
Is I know how to curse. The red plague rid you
For learning me your language! |
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| Important Quote from Caliban; This speech, delivered by Caliban to Prospero and Miranda, makes clear in a very concise form the vexed relationship between the colonized and the colonizer that lies at the heart of this play. The son of a witch, perhaps half-man and half-monster, his name a near-anagram of “cannibal,” Caliban is an archetypal “savage” figure in a play that is much concerned with colonization and the controlling of wild environments. Caliban and Prospero have different narratives to explain their current relationship. Caliban sees Prospero as purely oppressive while Prospero claims that he has cared for and educated Caliban, or did until Caliban tried to rape Miranda. Prospero’s narrative is one in which Caliban remains ungrateful for the help and civilization he has received from the Milanese Duke. Language, for Prospero and Miranda, is a means to knowing oneself, and Caliban has in their view shown nothing but scorn for this precious gift. Self-knowledge for Caliban, however, is not empowering. It is only a constant reminder of how he is different from Miranda and Prospero and how they have changed him from what he was. Caliban’s only hope for an identity separate from those who have invaded his home is to use what they have given him against them. |
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Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits, and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. |
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Prospero speaks these lines just after he remembers the plot against his life and sends the wedding masque away in order to deal with that plot. The sadness in the tone of the speech seems to be related to Prospero’s surprising forgetfulness at this crucial moment in the play: he is so swept up in his own visions, in the power of his own magic, that for a moment he forgets the business of real life. From this point on, Prospero talks repeatedly of the “end” of his “labours” (IV.i.260), and of breaking his staff and drowning his magic book (V.i.54–57). One of Prospero’s goals in bringing his former enemies to the island seems to be to extricate himself from a position of near absolute power, where the concerns of real life have not affected him. He looks forward to returning to Milan, where “every third thought shall be my grave” (V.i.315). In addition, it is with a sense of relief that he announces in the epilogue that he has given up his magic powers. Prospero’s speech in Act IV, scene i emphasizes both the beauty of the world he has created for himself and the sadness of the fact that this world is in many ways meaningless because it is a kind of dream completely removed from anything substantial.
His mention of the “great globe,” which to an audience in 1611 would certainly suggest the Globe Theatre, calls attention to Prospero’s theatricality—to the way in which he controls events like a director or a playwright. The word “rack,” which literally means “a wisp of smoke” is probably a pun on the “wrack,” or shipwreck, with which the play began. These puns conflate the theatre and Prospero’s island. When Prospero gives up his magic, the play will end, and the audience, like Prospero, will return to real life. No trace of the magical island will be left behind, not even of the shipwreck, for even the shipwreck was only an illusion. |
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Author: John Webster Genre: Tragedy Published: 1613-1614
The play is set in the court of Malfi (Amalfi), Italy over the period 1504 to 1510. The recently widowed Duchess falls in love with Antonio, a lowly steward but her brothers, not wishing her to share their inheritance, forbid her from remarrying. She marries Antonio in secret and bears him several children.
The Duchess' lunatic and incestuously obsessed brother Ferdinand threatens and disowns her. In an attempt to escape, the Duchess and Antonio concoct a story that Antonio has swindled her out of her fortune and has to flee into exile. She takes Bosola into her confidence, not knowing that he is Ferdinand's spy and arranges that he will deliver her jewelry to Antonio at his hiding-place in Ancona. She will join them later, whilst pretending to make a pilgrimage to a town nearby. The Cardinal hears of the plan, instructs Bosola to banish the two lovers and sends soldiers to capture them. Antonio escapes with their eldest son but the Duchess, her maid and her two younger children are returned to Malfi and under instructions from Ferdinand, die at the hands of executioners under Bosola's command. This experience, combined with a long-standing sense of injustice and his own feeling of a lack of identity, turns Bosola against the Cardinal and his brother, deciding to take up the cause of "Revenge for the Duchess of Malfi" (V.2).
The Cardinal confesses to his mistress Julia his part in the killing of the Duchess and then murders her to silence her, using a poisoned Bible. Next, Bosola overhears the Cardinal plotting to kill him (though he accepts what he sees as punishment for his actions) and so visits the darkened chapel to kill the Cardinal at his prayers. Instead, he mistakenly kills Antonio, who has just returned to Malfi to attempt a reconciliation with the Cardinal. Bosola stabs the Cardinal, who dies. In the brawl that follows, Ferdinand and Bosola stab each other to death.
Antonio's elder son by the Duchess appears in the final scene and takes his place as the heir to the Malfi fortune, despite his father's explicit wish that his son "fly the court of princes", a corrupt and increasingly deadly environment.
Themes: misuse of power, revenge, the status of women and the consequences which arise when they attempt to assert their authority in a patriarchal society, the argument of blood v. merit, the consequences of unequal marriage, cruelty, incest, corruption and the duties of a ruler.
Characters: The Duchess of Malfi, Antonio (her husband), Delio (Antonio's friend and confidant), Bosola (the Cardinal's henchmen who murders the Duchess and then regrets it, swearing to avenge her death), The Cardinal (evil, cold, hypocrite brother of the Duchess), Ferdinand (hothedded, possibly incestuous brother to the Duchess, who descends into madness), Julia (mistress to the Cardinal; he murders her with a poisoned Bible) |
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Author: Shakespeare Genre: Drama, Comedy
Characters: Rosalind, Orlando, Duke Senior, Jaques, Celia, Duke Frederick, Touchstone, Oliver, Silvius, Phoebe, Lord Amiens, Charles, Adam, Sir Rowland de Bois, Corin, Audrey, William.
Summary: Oliver inherits the late Sir Roland de Bois's estate but neglects to take care of his younger brother, Orlando. Charles warns Oliver that Orlando will challenge him to a fight; Charles vows to fight Orlando as well.
Duke Senior has been usurped of his throne by his brother, Duke Frederick, and has fled to the Forest of Ardenne, where he lives like Robin Hood with a band of loyal followers. Duke Frederick allows Senior’s daughter, Rosalind, to remain at court because of her inseparable friendship with his own daughter, Celia. The women watch Orlando and Charles fight and Rosalind and Orland fall in love with each other. Seeking shelter from his brother's plots, Orlando takes shelter in the forest of Ardenne and Duke Frederik banishes Rosalind from court; Celia also leaves with her along with Touchstone the court jester. To ensure the safety of their journey, Rosalind assumes the dress of a young man and takes the name Ganymede, while Celia dresses as a common shepherdess and calls herself Aliena. Both Frederick and Oliver begin a manhunt for both parties.
Duke Senior takes Orlando into his company and they soon meet up with the disguised Rosalind. Taking her to be a young man, Orlando confides in Rosalind that his affections are overpowering him. Rosalind, as Ganymede, claims to be an expert in exorcising such emotions and promises to cure Orlando of lovesickness if he agrees to pretend that Ganymede is Rosalind and promises to come woo her every day. One day Rosalind meets Oliver who says that Orlando saved him from a lioness. Oliver and the disguised Celia fall in love. Phoebe falls in love with the disguised Rosalind. Rosalind decides to end the charade. She promises that Ganymede will wed Phoebe, if Ganymede will ever marry a woman, and she makes everyone pledge to meet the next day at the wedding. The couples all gather on the day of the wedding. Hymen, the god of marriage, officiates at the ceremony and marries Rosalind and Orlando, Celia and Oliver, Phoebe and Silvius, and Audrey and Touchstone. The festive wedding celebration is interrupted by even more festive news: while marching with his army to attack Duke Senior, Duke Frederick came upon a holy man who convinced him to put aside his worldly concerns and assume a monastic life. -Frederick changes his ways and returns the throne to Duke Senior. |
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Author: Shakespeare; Genre: Tragedy; Written between 1603 and 1697
Plot: The first act of the play opens amidst thunder and lightning with the Three Witches deciding that their next meeting shall be with Macbeth. In the following scene, a wounded sergeant reports to King Duncan of Scotland that his generals — Macbeth, who is the Thane of Glamis, and Banquo — have just defeated the allied forces of Norway and Ireland, who were led by the traitor Macdonwald. Macbeth, the King's kinsman, is praised for his bravery and fighting prowess. The scene changes. Macbeth and Banquo enter, discussing the weather and their victory ("So foul and fair a day I have not seen").[1] As they wander onto a heath, the Three Witches enter, who have waited to greet them with prophecies. Even though Banquo challenges them first, they address Macbeth. The first witch hails Macbeth as "Thane of Glamis," the second as "Thane of Cawdor," and the third proclaims that he shall "be King hereafter." Macbeth appears to be stunned to silence, so again Banquo challenges them. The witches inform Banquo that he will father a line of kings, though he himself will not be one. While the two men wonder at these pronouncements, the witches vanish, and another thane, Ross, a messenger from the King, arrives and informs Macbeth of his newly bestowed title: Thane of Cawdor. The first prophecy is thus fulfilled. Immediately, Macbeth begins to harbour ambitions of becoming king. When Duncan decides to stay at the Macbeths' castle at Inverness, Lady Macbeth hatches a plan to murder him and secure the throne for her husband. Although Macbeth raises concerns about the regicide, Lady Macbeth eventually persuades him, by challenging his manhood, to follow her plan. The rightful heirs' flight makes them suspects and Macbeth assumes the throne as the new King of Scotland as a kinsman of the dead king. The assassins kill Banquo, but Fleance escapes. At the banquet, Macbeth invites his lords and Lady Macbeth to a night of drinking and merriment. Banquo's ghost enters and sits in Macbeth's place. Macbeth sees the spectre—he is the only person who can—and refuses to sit. As he grows furious, the rest panic at the sight of Macbeth raging at an empty chair, until a desperate Lady Macbeth tells them that her husband is merely afflicted with a familiar and harmless malady. Macbeth, disturbed, visits the Three Witches once more. They conjure up three spirits with three further warnings and prophecies: an armed head tells him to, "beware Macduff,"[3] a bloody child, that warns, "none of woman born shall harm Macbeth," and a crowned child holding a tree, stating Macbeth will "never vanquish'd be until Great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him". Since Macduff is in exile in England, Macbeth assumes that he is safe; so he puts to death everyone in Macduff's castle, including Macduff's wife and their young son. Lady Macbeth becomes wracked with guilt from the crimes she and her husband have committed. She sleepwalks and tries to wash imaginary bloodstains from her hands, all the while speaking of the terrible things she knows she pressed her husband to do. In England, Macduff is informed by Ross that his "castle is surprised; [his] wife and babes / Savagely slaughter'd."[4] Macbeth, now viewed as a tyrant, sees many of his thanes defecting. Malcolm leads an army, along with Macduff and Englishmen Siward (the Elder), the Earl of Northumberland, against Dunsinane Castle. A battle culminates inMacduff's confrontation with Macbeth. Macbeth boasts that he has no reason to fear Macduff, for he cannot be killed by any man born of woman. Macduff declares that he was "from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd"[7] (i.e., born by Caesarean section) and was not "of woman born" (an example of a literary quibble). Macbeth realises too late that he has misinterpreted the witches' words. Macduff beheads Macbeth offstage and thereby fulfills the last of the prophecies.
Although Malcolm, and not Fleance, is placed on the throne, the witches' prophecy concerning Banquo ("Thou shalt get kings") was known to the audience of Shakespeare's time to be true: James VI of Scotland (later also James I of England) was supposedly a descendant of Banquo. |
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| The great chain of being and the divine right of kings; the power of women; agency vs. free will; witch craft and evil. Who is in control of the action of the play? Does Macbeth have any choice? The tragedy of character |
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Author: Shakespeare Genre: Drama, Historical
Characters: King Henry V, Chorus, Dukes of Exeter, Westmorland, Salisbury, and Warwick, Dukes of Clarence, Bedford, Gloucester, Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop of Elyy, Cambride, Scrope, and Grey Three (conspirators against King Henry), York and Suffolk, King of France Charles VI, Isabel, The Dauphin, Cathrine,
Summary: Henry lays claim on certain parts of France based on his distant roots and when the prince Dauphin sends an insulting gift to Henry, he decides to go to war to reclaim his land. Henry’s decision to invade France trickles down to affect the common people he rules. In the Boar’s Head Tavern in Eastcheap, some of the king’s former friends—whom he rejected when he rose to the throne—prepare to leave their homes and families. Bardolph, Pistol, and Nim are common lowlifes and part-time criminals, on the opposite end of the social spectrum from their royal former companion.Just before his fleet sets sail, King Henry learns of a conspiracy against his life. The three traitors working for the French beg for mercy, but Henry denies their request. He orders that the trio, which includes a former friend named Scrope, be executed. Henry fights across France and Henry gives the st. Crispan's day speech before the battle of Agincourt. The night before the battle he disguises himself as a commoner and walks among the troops. When he is by himself, he laments his ever-present responsibilities as king. In the morning, he prays to God and gives a powerful, inspiring speech to his soldiers. Miraculously, the English win the battle, and the proud French must surrender at last. Some time later, peace negotiations are finally worked out: Henry will marry Catherine, the daughter of the French king. Henry’s son will be the king of France, and the marriage will unite the two kingdoms. |
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Author: Shakespeare; Genre: History Play; Written: 1597
Summary: Henry Bolingbroke – now King Henry IV – is having an unquiet reign. His personal disquiet at the means whereby he gained the crown – by deposing Richard II – would be solved by a journey or crusade to the Holy Land to fight Muslims, but broils on his borders with Scotland and Wales prevent that. Moreover, his guilt causes him to mistreat the Earls Northumberland and Worcester, heads of the Percy family, and Edmund Mortimer, the Earl of March. The first two helped him to his throne, and the third claims to have been proclaimed by Richard, the former king, as his rightful heir.
Adding to King Henry's troubles is the behaviour of his son and heir, the Prince of Wales. Hal (the future Henry V) has forsaken the Royal Court to waste his time in taverns with low companions. This makes him an object of scorn to the nobles and calls into question his royal worthiness. Hal's chief friend and foil in living the low life is Sir John Falstaff. Fat, old, drunk, and corrupt as he is, he has a charisma and a zest for life that captivates the Prince, born into a world of hypocritical pieties and mortal seriousness. As the play opens, the king is angry with Hotspur for refusing him most of the prisoners taken in a recent action against the Scots at Holmedon (see the Battle of Humbleton Hill). Hotspur, for his part, would have the king ransom Edmund Mortimer (his wife's brother) from Owen Glendower, the Welshman who holds him. Henry refuses, berates Mortimer's loyalty, and treats the Percys with threats and rudeness. By Act II, rebellion is brewing. As Henry Bolingbroke is mishandling the affairs of state, his son Hal is joking, drinking, and whoring with Falstaff and his associates. He likes Falstaff but makes no pretense at being like him. He enjoys insulting his dissolute friend and makes sport of him by joining in Poins’s plot to disguise themselves and rob and terrify Falstaff and three friends of loot they glean from a highway robbery, purely for the fun of watching Falstaff lie about it later, after which Hal returns the stolen money. Rather early in the play, in fact, Hal informs us that his riotous time will soon come to a close, and he will reassume his rightful high place in affairs by showing himself worthy to his father and others through some (unspecified) noble exploits. Hal believes that this sudden change of manner will amount to a greater reward and acknowledgment of prince-ship, and in turn "earn" him respect from the members of the court. The high and the low come together when the Prince makes up with his father and is given a high command. He orders Falstaff (who is, after all, a knight) to procure a group of footsoldiers and proceed to the battle site at Shrewsbury. No longer a tavern brawler but a warrior, the future king prevails, ultimately killing Hotspur in single combat. On the way to this climax, we are treated to Falstaff, who has "misused the King's press damnably",[9] not only by taking money from able-bodied men who wished to evade service but by keeping the wages of the poor souls he brought instead who were killed in battle ("food for powder, food for powder").[10] Now on his own Falstaff is attacked by the Douglas during Hal's battle with Hotspur, but plays possum and is presumed dead. After Hal leaves Hotspur's body on the field, Falstaff revives in a mock miracle. Seeing he is alone, he stabs Hotspur's corpse in the thigh and claims credit for the kill.[11] Though incredulous of this report, Hal allows Sir John his disreputable tricks. The play ends at Shrewsbury, after the battle. The death of Hotspur has taken the heart out of the rebels,[13] and the king's forces prevail. Henry is pleased with the outcome, not least because it gives him a chance to execute Thomas Percy, the Earl of Worcester, one of his chief enemies (though previously one of his greatest friends). Meanwhile Hal shows off his kingly mercy in praise of valor; having taken the valiant Douglas prisoner, Hal orders his enemy released without ransom.
Themes: In the "coming-of-age" interpretation, Hal's acquaintance with Falstaff and the tavern lowlife humanises him and provides him with a more complete view of Elizabethan era life.[15] At the outset, Prince Hal seems to pale in comparison with the fiery Henry Percy, the young noble lord of the North (whom Shakespeare portrays considerably younger than he was in history in order to provide a foil for Hal). Many readers interpret the history as a tale of Prince Hal growing up, evolving into King Henry V,[16] perhaps the most heroic of all of Shakespeare's characters, in what is a tale of the prodigal son adapted to the politics of medieval England.[17]
Other readers have, however, looked at Hal more critically; Hal can appear as a budding Machiavel. In this reading, there is no "ideal king": the gradual rejection of Falstaff is a rejection of Hal's humanity in favour of cold realpolitik. |
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Author: E. Cary Genre: Drama, Tragedy
Characters: Herod, Doris (Herod's first wife), Mariam, Salome, Antipater (Herod's son by Doris), Alexandra (Mariam's Mother), Silleus, Constabarus, Pheroras (Herod's brother), Graphina (his lover), Sohemus (Herod's counselor)
Summary: The Tragedy tells the story of Mariam, a member of the Hasmonean dynasty and the second wife of Herod the Great, king of Palestine 39-4 B.C. When the play opens, in 29 B.C., Herod is thought dead at the hand of Octavian (later Caesar Augustus), and Mariam faces her ambivalent feelings about her husband; Herod had loved her, but had also murdered her grandfather and brother. In Act IV, however, Herod returns, dispelling the false report of his death. Herod's immoral and "villain" sister Salome I falsely convinces Herod his wife has been unfaithful in his absence which results in him ordering Mariam's execution. Salome also divorces her husband to marry another man, Silleus (Prince of Arabia). By the end, Salome also has her former husband, Constabarus killed. |
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Author: Sir Philip Sidney; Published 1595; Genre: Theory
The essence of his defense is that poetry, by combining the liveliness of history with the ethical focus of philosophy, is more effective than either history or philosophy in rousing its readers to virtue. Shelley writes in Defence that while "ethical science arranges the elements which poetry has created," and leads to a moral civil life, poetry acts in a way that "awakens and enlarges the mind itself by rendering it the receptacle of a thousand unapprehended combinations of thought". idney’s influence on future writers could also be analyzed from the standpoint of his handling of the utilitarian viewpoint. For instance, Sidney, following Aristotle, writes that praxis (human action) is tantamount to gnosis (knowledge). Men drawn to music, astronomy, philosophy and so forth all direct themselves to "the highest end of the mistress knowledge, by the Greeks called architectonike" (literally, "of or for a master builder")," which stands, according to Sidney, "in the knowledge of a man's self, in the ethic and political consideration, with the end of well doing and not of well knowing only". Sidney’s program of literary reform concerns the connection between art and virtue. One of the themes of the Apology is the insufficiency of simply presenting virtue as a precept; the poet must move men to virtuous action. Poetry can lead to virtuous action. Action relates to experience. From Sidney, the utilitarian view of rhetoric can be traced to Coleridge's criticism, and for instance, to the reaction to the Enlightenment. Coleridge's brief treatise On Poesy or Art sets forth a theory of imitation which bears a remarkable resemblance to that of Sidney. Sidney writes that there “is no art delivered to mankind that hath not the works of nature for his principal object”. The poet then does not depart from external nature. His works are "imitation" or "fiction," made of the materials of nature, and are shaped by the artist's vision. This vision is one that demands the reader's awareness of the art of imitation created through the "maker," the poet. Sidney's notion of "fore-conceit" means that a conception of the work must exist in the poet's mind before it is written. Free from the limitations of nature, and independent from nature, poetry is capable of "making things either better than Nature bringeth forth, or, quite anew, forms such as never were in Nature".
Sidney’s doctrine presents the poet as creator. |
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| Sermon delivered by John Donne just days before he died. Death’s Duel portrays life as a steady descent to suffering and death, yet sees hope in salvation and immortality through an embrace of God, Christ and the Resurrection. Compare to "Death Be Not Proud". He also links the womb with the tomb. |
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| "Speech to the Troops at Tilbury" |
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Author: Queen Elizabeth Genre: Political speech delivered 1588 to land forces at Tilbury to repel the anticipated invasion of the spanish Armada.
text: My loving boys
We have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit our selves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear. I have always so behaved myself that, under God, I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and good-will of my subjects; and therefore I am come amongst you, as you see, at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live and die amongst you all; to lay down for my God, and for my kingdom, and my people, my honour and my blood even, in the dust.
I know I have the body but of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which rather than any dishonour shall grow by me, I myself will take up arms, I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field.
I know already, for your forwardness you have deserved rewards and crowns; and We do assure you in the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people. |
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| A variant on the English form is the Spenserian sonnet, named after Edmund Spenser (c.1552–1599) in which the rhyme scheme is, abab, bcbc, cdcd, ee. In a Spenserian sonnet there does not appear to be a requirement that the initial octave sets up a problem that the closing sestet "answers", as is the case with a Petrarchan sonnet. Instead, the form is treated as three quatrains connected by the interlocking rhyme scheme and followed by a couplet. |
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| Edmund Spenser; Spenser is following in the vein of the Virgil by crafting a pastoral, which shepherds amoung their flocks piping out songs of love and complaint, usually in complete harmony with their natural surroundings. What Spenser does it claim Virgil's classic style for an English landscape by using the deliberately arcane language of Chaucer. This was Spenser's first publication, after which be proceeds to the epic. |
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| It was, however, Sir Philip Sidney's sequence Astrophel and Stella (1591) that started the English vogue for sonnet sequences: the next two decades saw sonnet sequences by William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser, Michael Drayton, Samuel Daniel, Fulke Greville, William Drummond of Hawthornden, and many others. These sonnets were all essentially inspired by the Petrarchan tradition, and generally treat of the poet's love for some woman; with the exception of Shakespeare's sequence. The form is often named after Shakespeare, not because he was the first to write in this form but because he became its most famous practitioner. The form consists of fourteen lines structured as three quatrains and a couplet. The third quatrain generally introduces an unexpected sharp thematic or imagistic "turn"; the volta. In Shakespeare's sonnets, however, the volta usually comes in the couplet, and usually summarizes the theme of the poem or introduces a fresh new look at the theme. With only a rare exception, the meter is iambic pentameter, although there is some accepted metrical flexibility (e.g., lines ending with an extra-syllable feminine rhyme, or a trochaic foot rather than an iamb, particularly at the beginning of a line). The usual rhyme scheme is end-rhymed a-b-a-b, c-d-c-d, e-f-e-f, g-g. |
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Author: Queen Elizabeth Genre: Political speech.
The Golden Speech was delivered by Queen Elizabeth I of England to 141 Members of the Commons (including the Speaker), on November 30th, 1601. It was a speech that was expected to be addressing some pricing concerns, based on the recent economic issues facing the country. Surprisingly she revealed that it would be her final Parliament and turned the mode of the speech to addressing the love and respect she had for the country, her position, and the Members themselves.
Lines 1 - 19, the Queen receives the thanks from the Commons as a very valuable present while they knelt before her position and she enumerates the different tasks she had supported as Queen and she also justifies the large debt behind the Irish campaigns by saying that it wasn’t for her own profit but for the benefit of her subjects
lines 20- 50, Queen Elizabeth I uses the Commons’ complaint about the monopolies of goods and services (letter patents) first by thanking them for the report received about a situation unknown by her and assuring she would not allow those who had been privileged with these business licenses to abuse her people so she repaired the error on some patents. Parliament was to take care of the rest. She also reminded them of her advanced age.
Lines 51-72, The Queen finally offers her respects to the Crown, gives up the throne for the sake of the country and puts her life in her loved ones hands. Throughout the speech we find reminders of her beliefs about God making her Queen, using her as an instrument and being God the only one to question her acts. |
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