The Contrast in the sensibility of Elizabethan poetry and Metaphysical poetry

 7. THE CONTRAST IN THE SENSIBILITY OF ELIZABETHAN POETRY AND METAPHYSICAL POETRY   Elizabethan poetry 

 1558-1603 

Up to the half of 14th century English literature was written in French. The change came in the 1st third of the 16th century. The English language experienced varied impulses and caught up with the rest of Europe. Political changes took place that enabled the future cultural development during the reigns of Elizabeth I. and James I. These changes were started by Henry VIII. (1509– 947). Henry VIII Tudor established a new church under the guidance of the Crown. In the time of Henry VIII: Wyatt, Howard During Elizabeth's reign – Marlowe, Spenser , Sidney , Raleigh The Elizabethan age was the peak of Renaissance.

English reformation lacked fanatic consistency.

Sir Thomas Wyatt, 1503-1542

 * He was the lover of Anne Boleyn before she married Henry VIII
 * A real renaissance poet, courtier and envoy of Henry VIII. Visited France and Italy. H was the first in England to use the difficult poetry forms of – terza rima, ottava rima and rondeau.
 * Brought sonnet to England. He wrote poems for his friends. He wrote the first sonnet in English. His poetry is mainly paraphrasing or translating Italian patterns, mainly Petrarca
 * His poetry was first published together with Surrey’s poetry and several anonymous authors in Tottel ’s collection.

 Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, 1517-1547


 * ====Royal blood. Soldier. Fictim of inquisitions. Executed.====
 * ====He did a lot for English poetry. Invented two forms: 1. he constituted specific English form of sonnet, it differs form the Italian – 3x rhyming 4 verses + 2 verses rhyming, and====
 * ====2. blank verse - 5 track jamb without rhyme which became the main expressive means of Elizabethan-Jamesian drama.====
 *  Tottel’s Miscellany  - elegant sonnets

 Christopher Marlowe, 1564-1593


 * The biggest revolutionary artist of Elizabethan era. Considered himself an atheist, playwright, dramatist. Wrote in blank verse.
 * Wrote the play,  Tamerlan the Great .  Son of a shoemaker of Canterbury. Studied at Cambridge. Became the agent of secret police.
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Epic composition Hero, Leander
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Passionate Shepherd to his Love – very popular at his time. Inspired many paraphrases or polemics.
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">He was killed under inexplicable circumstances.

Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552-1618
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">- Poetic polemics with Marlow. Reacted to Marlow’s Come to live with me and be my love by non-sentimental 'If all the world and love were young , 

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">- Most of his poetry has been lost. Only 30 short poems and fragments remained. Was devoted to Queen Elizabeth. Some of his poems are openly satirical. In the 1580s he was the Queen’s favourite. But later became more and more out of the way. There were rumors about “School of Night ” – his company of astronoms, traveller, dukes. In Marlow and Shakespeare there are satiric notes about it.

- During the reign of king James I. his situation became even worse. In 1603 he was accused of conspiracy and sentenced to death. He wasn't killed thoug, he spent 13 years in prison with his wife and son. In 1616 the king sent him to Orinoko for gold. This expedition bankrupted and Raleigh was executed.

Sir Philip Sidney,  1554-1586 Wrote prose works too: the Elizabethans loved eloquence and their prose writing reflect this taste.
 * At court, embodiment of ideal court-man, soldier and poet, supported other artist.
 * A real knight of Elizabethan lyrics. Studied Oxford and Cambridge. Envoy in Paris and Falc. Visited Prague. Became governor in Flanders.
 * Created 1st circle of sonnets like a story or development collection  Astrophel a Stella .  C onventional topic. Wrote about his love for married sister Penelope Rich. Written in fresh language, direct and somewhere even colloquial, which is not easy in sonnet form.
 * Head of a poets’ circle Areopagus . Other members were: Greville, Dyer and Spenser
 * He defined a generation in England.

The Defence of Poesie - the first English essay of literary criticism.

Arcadia - a prose romance. Strongly influenced by the 16th century Spanish and Italian romances. Devoted to his sister. Statue book of noble practice and pastoral love.

Financial patron to the biggest poet of this generation: Edmund Spenser

Edmund Spenser, 1552-1599 - Contributed to effort of Tudor’s poets to make English language for poetry. Inspired by Chaucer, used archaisms, liked history.
 * From a tradesman family. Educated thanks to scholarships. Studied at Cambridge. Gained university degree. Very talented and appreciated. Turned to the court for support – but was disappointed. He had patrons but the rest of his time he spent in Ireland in service of Lord Delegate. In 1598 after uprising he left to England and lost all his possessions. He died poor but had a big funeral.

The Faerie Quene – allegoric epos, world of king Arthur’s knights. His morals were even puritan. People of Elizabethan period liked this topic. His method brought him the first place among poets after Chaucer. One of treasures of English literature. His allegory and his conception of the poet is too distant for us today.

 The Shepheardes Calender, 

Prothalamion. – wedding song, He uses conventional pastoral form – unpopular now.

Amoretti – circle of sonnets

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm"> Sir Francis Bacon ,  1561 – 1626

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">- essayist and philosopher, author of one poem that survived

Shakespeare’s sonnets
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The Dark Lady. Some sonnets are dedicated to her, some are dedicated to male friends. Themes: dying, friendship, politics – about society <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">s. 18 – We can’t recognise whether he talks about woman or man, he did this on purpose. <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">s. 30 – English sonnet, the imagery, he uses vocabulary based on metaphor of a court. He is both a judge and a prosecutor at once, a financial account as well <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Other renaissance poets: Henry Constable, Samuel Daniel, Michael Drayton, John Fletcher, George Gascoigne, Fulke Greville, lord Brooke, Edward, lord Herbert y Chebury, Robert Southwell

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">prose: Richard Hooker: Of the Laws of Ecclestiastical Polity - a majestic treatise, it attempted to justify the eternal law of god

Metaphysical poetry
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">“metaphysical” meant too supersensual. Had many things in common with Shakespeare’s poetry. Very dramatic poetry, some poems can be read as direct dramatisations of people’s intimate relationships. Physical and erotic actions. Tragic tone is close to Shakespeare’s.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">They sought to probe into the origins of human feelings. They were attracted by the achievements of philosophy and science. They used original images and colloquial speech. The subject matter and rhyme was flexible.

What’s new about this poetry?
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Base of metaphysical poetics is Concetto, a simile, they should be shocking and uncommon, sometimes several verses.
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Direct contact between the reader and writer. Between Spencer and Milton, both earnest, serious personalities, in his minidramas the reader plays an important role.
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The tone of his voice can express all emotions
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Intellectual depth, very educated, he doesn’t separate his intellect and his emotional life
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">a metaphysical poem is often a polemic of Elizabethan intellectual
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">topics – thinking, thoughts,

John Donne, 1572 – 1631 before Milton, after Spenser
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">contemporary of Jonson and Dryden, criticised by them

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Studied university but didn’t get degree, loved theatre, women. Tried to make a political degree. He eloped with his wife. Most of his life lived at the court. Converted to Anglican Church. Wrote sermons as a preacher. Poetry about God, death, spirituality, so called “holly sonnets”

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Holly Sonnets, i.e. simile of the poet’s heart and a town under conqueror
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">The most original poet among the Metaphysicals
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">During his youth he wrote a series of strikingly original love poems. During middle age he renounced the pleasures of the world. He wrote magnificent religious sonnets and he became a powerful preacher

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">at the time of classicism all his virtues were against him – openness, colloquial tone, direct attack

Meditation 17 <p style="margin-bottom:0cm"> Songs and sonnets, 1633

Andrew Marvell

 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">He wrote lyrical, intellectual poetry on nature and love
 * <p style="margin-bottom:0cm">He celebrated the Revolution and wrote on other political issues

Henry Vaughan, 1622 – 1695
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">he wrote religious poetry

George Herbert, 1593-1633
Donne’s follower, but very different, a priest too, but different poet, his concetti are very often derived from everyday life, from nature, he fights with God because his faith isn’t blind and passive

Steps to the Temple – collection of poems
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm"> Metaphysical poetry was excellent but in the middle of the 17th century there was no interest in it.

Robert Herrick

 * 1) *<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Take holly Odes (vstoupit do kněžského stavu). Tries to find pleasure in nature. Sometimes quite philosophical.

<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Cavalier poets

Sir John Suckling
<p style="margin-bottom:0cm">Against Cromwell, active fighter against him. Had to leave to France.