April 17 Songs and Poems
A. 2:10--2:25 Last class: Ralegh and
Shakespeare—innocence and experience
B. 2:25--2:35 Songs—Morley; airs and madrigals
1.
2:25—2:30 Month of Maying
a)
falala
and flute: birdsong
b)
regreening
c)
Barley
break: probably means something similar to the idiom "roll in the
hay".
2.
2:30—2:35 Come sweet love
a)
Carpe
diem
b)
Interweaving
lines
c)
Dying—a
dying fall
C. 2:35—2:45 Wroth: 1451-2, 1457-1461
1.
Bio 1587-1651
b)
Lady
Mary Wroth was the daughter of Robert Sidney,
later Earl of Leicester, and the wealthy heiress Barbara Gamage, first cousin
to Sir Walter Ralegh.
c)
In
1604 Mary was married to Sir Robert Wroth, a wealthy landowner in favor with
James I. Although the marriage was not a happy one, Wroth's favor with the king
brought Lady Mary into court circles.
d)
Sir
Robert Wroth had been a reputed wastrel, spendthrift, drunkard, and
womanizer—his death in 1614 left Mary in enormous debt.
e)
For
some time Mary Wroth had been the mistress of her first cousin William Herbert,
third Earl of Pembroke, with whom she had two illegitimate children, a son
and a daughter.
f)
Wroth
relates the love story of Pamphilia and Amphilanthus, which she uses as a
framing-story for a large number of tales about female characters married to
unsuitable husbands or matched with unfaithful lovers.
g)
explores
the darker side of passion, especially through the use of the blind boy Cupid
as a symbol of infantile, self-centered, sensual emotion. Pamphilia's harsh
mockery of Cupid produces a guilty reaction when she suddenly repents of
treason against the god of love
2.
Poems
a)
1—dream
of cupid and burning heart
b)
16—IÕm
conquered
c)
40—hope
as torment
d)
103—farewell
burn, hello constancy and honor
D. Donne: profane and sacred
1.
2:45—2:55 1260-62: Portraits and Bio
a)
1572-1631
(1) Donne was born in London Éinto the
precarious world of English recusant Catholicism, whose perils his family well
knew.
(2)
He
spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on
womanising, literature, pastimes, and travel.
(5) In 1601, Donne secretly married
Anne Moore, with whom he had twelve children.[4
(6) Walton tells us that when Donne
wrote to his wife to tell her about losing his post, he wrote after his name:
John Donne, Anne Donne, Un-done. It was not until 1609 that Donne was
reconciled with his father-in-law and received his wife's dowry.
(7) The transformation of Jack Donne
the rake into the Reverend Dr. Donne, dean of St. Paul's Cathedral.
(8) Donne took holy orders in January
1615, having been persuaded by King James himself of his fitness for a ministry
(9) he became the most celebrated
cleric of his age, preaching frequently before the king at court as well as at
St. Paul's and other churches.
(10)
portrait
in shroud:
2.
The Two Voices: Chaucer, More, Marlowe-Ralegh
3.
ÒMetaphysical Poets—next generation after Elizabethan
Golden Age—Baroque/Mannerist
a)
extreme
effects; over the top—both erotic and spiritual/devotional
b)
the
conceit
c)
poetry
and puzzles—going beyond the limits of language; surprise, feeling,
silence
d)
exaggerations
e)
extended
figures of speech
f)
self
conscious language
g)
Wit;
rhetoric, whimsy, dramatization, irreverence, compression, libertine poetry,
humor and courtship
4.
3:00—3:20
Songs and Sonnets
a)
1263
(The Flea)
Mark but this flea, and mark in
this,
How little that which thou deniest me
is;
Me it sucked first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea our two bloods mingled
be;
Thou knowÕst that this cannot be said
A sin, or shame, or loss of maidenhead,
Yet this enjoys before
it woo,
And pampered* swells
with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is
more than we would do.
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, nay more than married
are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our mariage bed and mariage temple
is;
Though parents grudge, and you, we are
met,
And cloisterd in these living walls of
jet.
Though use make you
apt to kill me,
Let not to that,
self-murder added be,
And sacrilege, three
sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of
innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be,
Except in that drop which it sucked from
thee?
Yet thou triumphÕst, and say'st that
thou
FindÕst not thy self, nor me the weaker
now;
ÕTis true; then learn
how false, fears be:
Just so much honor,
when thou yieldÕst to me,
Will waste, as this
fleaÕs death took life from thee.
b)
1266
(The Sun Rising)
Busy old fool, unruly sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers' seasons run?
Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide
Late school boys and sour prentices,
Call country ants to harvest offices,
Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime,
Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags
of time.
Thy beams, so reverend and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long;
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw'st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
She's all states, and all princes, I,
Nothing else is.
Princes do but play us; compared to this,
All honor's mimic, all wealth alchemy.
Thou, sun, art half as happy as we,
In that the world's contracted thus.
Thine age asks ease, and since thy duties be
To warm the world, that's done in warming us.
Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;
This bed thy center is, these walls, thy sphere.
Defiant, disrespectful of age, dialogue
Conquest of time and space and power
Bed/center and sphere
5.
3:20—3:35 Holy Sonnets:
a)
(1)
1295
Thou hast made me, and shall thy work
decay?
Repair me now, for now mine end doth
haste,
I run to death, and death meets me as
fast,
And all my pleasures are like yesterday;
I dare not move my dim eyes any way,
Despair behind, and death before doth
cast
Such terror, and my feebled flesh doth
waste
By sin in it, which it t'wards hell doth
weigh.
Only thou art above, and when towards
thee
By thy leave I can look, I rise again;
But our old subtle foe so tempteth me,
That not one hour I can myself sustain;
Thy grace may wing me to prevent his art,
And thou like adamant draw mine iron
heart.
dialogue=prayer
panic
reversals—back and forth
dualism
sonnet form
(10) 1296,
Death, be not proud, though some have
called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost
overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou
kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy
pictures be,
Much pleasure; then from thee much more
must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings,
and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness
dwell,
And poppy or charms can make us sleep as
well
And better than thy stroke; why swell'st
thou then?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou
shalt die.
(14) 1297,
Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for
you
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and
seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me,
and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make
me new.
I, like an usurp'd town to another due,
Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end;
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should
defend,
But is captiv'd, and proves weak or
untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd
fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy;
Divorce me, untie or break that knot
again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be
free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish
me.
E. 3:35—3:55 George Herbert:
1.
Bio
a)
3
April 1593 – 1 March 1633
c)
Like
ChaucerÕs Parson
d)
Being
born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education that led
to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge
University and Parliament.
e)
In
1630, in his late thirties he gave up his secular ambitions and took holy orders in the Church of England,
spending the rest of his life as a rector
of the little parish of Fugglestone St Peter
with Bemerton St Andrew,
near Salisbury. He was
noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them
when they were ill, and providing food and clothing for those in need.
f)
Herbert
himself, in a letter to Nicholas
Ferrar, said of his writings, "they are a picture of spiritual
conflicts between God and my soul before I could subject my will to Jesus, my
Master"
g)
In
1633 Herbert finished a collection of poems entitled The Temple, which imitates
the architectural style of churches through both the meaning of the words and
their visual layout.
2.
The Altar 1607,
a)
A broken
ALTAR, Lord thy servant rears,
Made of a heart, and cemented with teares:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workmans tool hath touch'd the same
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow'r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy Name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
O let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctifie this ALTAR to be thine.
3.
*Redemption 1607
a)
HAVING been tenant long to a rich Lord,
Not thriving, I resolved to be bold,
And make a suit unto him, to afford
A new small-rented lease, and cancell thÕ old.
In heaven at his manor I him sought :
They told me there, that he was
lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly
bought
Long since on earth, to take possession.
I straight returnÕd, and knowing his great birth,
Sought him accordingly in great
resorts ;
In cities, theatres, gardens, parks,
and courts :
At length I heard a ragged noise and mirth
Of theeves and murderers :
there I him espied,
Who straight, Your suit is granted,
said, and died.
4.
Easter Wings 1609,
a)
Lord,
Who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With Thee
O
let me rise,
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day Thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne;
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most
thinne.
With Thee
Let me combine,
And feel this day Thy victorie;
For, if I imp my wing on Thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
5.
*Denial 1613,
When my devotions could not pierce
Thy
silent ears,
Then was my heart broken, as was my verse;
My
breast was full of fears
And
disorder.
My bent thoughts, like a brittle bow,
Did fly asunder:
Each took his way; some would to pleasures go,
Some
to the wars and thunder
Of alarms.
ÒAs good go anywhere,Ó they say,
ÒAs to benumb
Both knees and heart, in crying night and day,
Come,
come, my God, O come!
But no hearing.Ó
O that thou shouldst give dust a tongue
To cry to thee,
And then not hear it crying! All day long
My
heart was in my knee,
But no hearing.
Therefore my soul lay out of sight,
Untuned, unstrung:
My feeble spirit, unable to look right,
Like
a nipped blossom, hung
Discontented.
O cheer and tune my heartless breast,
Defer no time;
That so thy favors granting my request,
They
and my mind may chime,
And mend my rhyme.
