(kind boy) and Love s Clock, and Robert Herrick s, The Eye. Paying particular attention to

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "(kind boy) and Love s Clock, and Robert Herrick s, The Eye. Paying particular attention to"

Rosamond Golden
6 years ago
Views:

1 This essay intends to undertake the literary analysis of Sir John Suckling s poems, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy) and Love s Clock, and Robert Herrick s, The Eye. Paying particular attention to some of the overriding themes of each piece, where necessary this essay will also consider the political and historical contexts under which the texts were written and consider to what extent these effected the texts. However, the main focus of this essay will be to consider these works as part of a wider genre and examine some of the contrasts and similarities between Sir John Suckling and Robert Herrick. When approaching both poets it is often commonplace to read their works under the Cavalier label. Therefore, a solid starting point for the examination of these three texts is to first consider the role of the Cavalier as poet, and the Cavalier as a literary genre. Suckling is often regarded as being firmly part of this group, that commonly includes poets such as Thomas Carew, Lord Herbert, Richard Lovelace. But to read a Cavalier poet is to not only acknowledge a political stance, indeed a deeply Royalist position during the English Civil Wars, it is to also recognise a kind of literary culture and attitude in itself. Robin Skelton puts forth a brief description of the Cavalier attitude, the sense that they distrust the over-earnest, the too intense 1. This is a helpful analysis that be- comes useful when assessing the tone of some of the mentioned works, but when examining the significance of particular characteristics of the writers poetic techniques it is essential to consider some of the other overriding influences that impacted their style. One way to consider the aim of Cavalier poets is to characterise how they shape wit in their work, after all says A. D. Cousins in, The Cavalier World and John Cleveland : this is the great principle of their verse. 2 It is a wit that is carefully crafted, but there is also the sense in poems 1 Robin Skelton, The Cavalier Poets, (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1960). pp A. D. Cousins, The Cavalier World and John Cleveland, Studies in Philology, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter, 1981), [ac- cessed 02/12/2013 via: ], pp , at p of 9

2 such as Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), that Suckling s wit is constructed in an entirely spontaneous nature. The very opening of the sonnet presents an indifferent attitude, with Suckling proposing that he: ask[s] no red and white. 3 Yet at the same time it is a precise and insightful demand, that con- veys Suckling s beliefs over love and relationships. Cousins describes how at times Suckling: [C]an manifest his virtuosity. Yet the deliberateness of Suckling's "skill" and "wit at will" is more directly shown by the way in which the sprezzatura of the verse its courtly ease and apparent spontaneity achieved by careful modulation of cadence and variety of pause almost conceals the lines' rigid argumentative design. 4 Cousins analysis emphasises Suckling s poetic craftsmanship, and it is clear that there is a studied carelessness in Suckling s verse. The opening stanza presents a narrator who is musing over a slightly trivial and light-hearted episode that appears to be directed towards Cupid. Although, Suckling creates a paradox between a seemingly mundane human interaction with a spiritual interaction with Cupid, the highest form of love and desire. Suckling also makes us aware of his relationship with Cupid through the friendly manner in which he addresses him as in thee (kind boy). 5 It is indeed the deliberately elevated environment that this poem is set that both portrays the extravagance of the Royalist courtier and Suckling the Cavalier, who takes the reader on a journey through an untroubled world in which there is enough time to converse with Cupid. Despite the carpe diem attitude, there is no sense of urgency, and the lack of response from Cupid shows Suckling s unwillingness to present a philosophical or spiritual debate in his verse. Instead, Suckling is content with stating that he needs nothing else in the: sport but the: love in love. 6 Never- theless, although this seems to be a casually blurted statement, Suckling has in fact declared that he 3 Sir John Suckling, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), in The Metaphysical Poets, Selected and edited by Helen Gardner (London: Penguin Books, 1957; repr. 1985), p A. D. Cousins, The Cavalier World and John Cleveland, at p Sir John Suckling, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), p Sir John Suckling, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), p of 9

3 ask[s] no more of the workings of desire and love, as he has already put forward his judgement on the matter. 7 His assertion is final and needs no response from Cupid, and again by disregarding the response of such a high entity Suckling almost becomes unaccountable for his views and actions. Moreover, Suckling combines the uniqueness of his viewpoint with a tone that is final, authoritative and teemed with audacity. It is also as Cousin s outlines, the careful modulation of cadence and [the] variety of pause that marks Suckling s verse. 8 The progressing rhythm of the first four lines that moves through the first stanza uses simple rhyming couplets, but culminates with alternate couplets, giving the last line a certain resonance that almost ironically replicates a proverbial quality. Suckling eventually resolves his argument by giving a mechanical analysis of desire, through the clock and its workings, in: What in or watches, that in us is found, [ ] We up be wound, / No matter by what hand or trick. 9 This proposes a wholly unnatural account of the workings of love and desire, and presents Suckling the libertine cynic. This seems to be a theme and conceit that is replicated in Suckling s, Love s Clock. Much like Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), Suckling emphasises the mechanical role of the clock, and literally signifies the impact of the passing of time. Through: Are quicker / And thicker, Suckling draws on the immediacy and highlights the certainty of time running out in the way the stanza makes use of rhythm to bring the stanza to a halt. 10 Suckling s use of iambic pentameter in the first two lines, in That none beguiled be by time s quick flowing, / Lovers have in their hearts a clock still going, is abruptly contrasted in the middle of the third line with the use of nimble which has an awk- 7 Sir John Suckling, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), p A. D. Cousins, The Cavalier World and John Cleveland, at p Sir John Suckling, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), p Sir John Suckling, Love s Clock, in Cavalier Poets: Selected Poems, ed. by Thomas Clayton (Oxford, Oxford Uni- versity Press, 1978), p of 9

4 wardly stressed second syllable. 11 This effectively breaks up the line, and causes an irregular metre. Throughout the rest of the poem, Suckling appears to explore human emotion through a mechanical device, suggesting that: Hope is the mainspring on which moves desire. 12 This presents Suckling as the narrator who carefully deconstructs his own human emotion like the taking apart of clock. Suckling seems to be arguing that the workings of love emulate the movement of clockwork and can therefore be described just as accurately in this way, as they could be described in the more conventional, spiritual way. Much like Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), we see the clock as it winds down and finally stops or strike[s]. 13 But compared to, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), Love s Clock seems slightly less cynical. This is perhaps due to Suckling s treatment of the subject with levity, and the poems final remark: what you best like, which presents a libertine optimism and celebrates freedom of choice. 14 This is unlike, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), which leaves the reader with a desolate image of a piece machinery and in: "No matter by what hand or trick, ends with an uneasiness in the narrators own alienation from the emotional sources of love. 15 In both poems, Suckling seems to be mirroring the slightly cynical attitudes of Royalist courtiers and displaying a deliberate nonchalance, towards both the seriousness of poetry and life. Suckling also sets up throughout both poems some clear paradoxes that present a contrast between the mundane and the extraordinary, or perhaps even the Cavalier and the Puritan. Furthermore, Suckling s wider literary conceits, that make use of the mechanism of clockwork, emphasise his ability to fashion poetry which encapsulates the hedonistic attitude he wishes to express. 11 Sir John Suckling, Love s Clock, p Sir John Suckling, Love s Clock, p Sir John Suckling, Love s Clock, p Sir John Suckling, Love s Clock, p Sir John Suckling, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), p of 9

5 On the other hand, although Herrick champions the construction of the juxtaposition and the literary conceit in his poem The Eye, he seems to allude more to the metaphysical wit of a poet such as Donne than the cynicism of Suckling. In The Eye Herrick expresses his ability to, as Roger B. Rollin suggests: ingeniously explore and exploit a conceit. 16 Herrick effectively builds the entire poem on a discordia concors and develops the fine artistry of a Donne conceit that harnesses a microcosmic image and contrasts it with a macrocosmic one. 17 We see this in Donne s, The Sun Rising in: This bed thy centre is, these walls thy sphere, which through extravagant hyperbole contrasts the bedroom as being everywhere and the rest of existence as nothing. 18 Herrick s paradox builds upon the incomprehensibility of the universe to create an even starker contrast with the humanity of Corinna s eye, and undoubtedly reflects upon the nature of contemporary scientific discovery. 19 This presents Herrick as a learned man, engaged in contemporary scien- tific debate, but also presents a skilful poet who is able to delicately balance two systems. There are both the older and religious ideas of anthropocentric existence and the creationism of Genesis, in: Mak[ing] a heaven, and the sense of discovery and enquiry in: what is then this curious sky. 20 This in turn questions the scope of the unknown universe above Earth, and reflects upon the increasingly accepted Copernican and heliocentric models which argued that humans were inhabit- 16 Roger B. Rollin, Cleanly-Wantonness and This Sacred Grove: The Theme of Love, in Robert Herrick (New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1966), pp , at p Melissa C. Wannamaker, Discordia Concors: The Wit of Metaphysical poetry, (Washington: Kennikat Press, 1975). 18 John Donne, The Sun Rising, Songs and Sonnets, (Norton Anthology Vol. 1), The Norton Anthology of English Lit- erature Gen. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, 9th ed., (New York: Norton, 2012), p Robert Herrick, The Eye, in Cavalier Poets: Selected Poems, ed. by Thomas Clayton (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1978), p Robert Herrick, The Eye, p of 9

6 ing an insignificant planet in relation to the universe Like Donne s references to pre-coperni- can astronomy in the way the sun s sphere is centred not on the earth but the lovers bed, Herrick displays a similar metaphysical wit. 23 It seems that by contrast we are to perceive Suckling as a thoughtless poet. Herrick presents his ability to construct a metaphorical conceit that helps us grasp the passion of his arguments for love and beauty. Moreover, Cousins suggests that this presents Herrick s: poetic role as the virtuoso, and in fact The Eye is a poem that acknowledges the power of the: wise artist. 24 Herrick presents his ability to artistically fashion miniature images, and this is perhaps most evident in: Make me the straight and oblique lines, / The motions, lations, and the signs Further to this, Herrick beautifully encapsulates emotion, through an overarching desire to Make [ ] a chariot and a sun and his urge for energetic outbursts in: let me through a zodiac run. 27 On the other hand, perhaps Herrick and Suckling are most united, in that they both present a distinctly lofty Cavalier confidence and uniqueness. Cousin s argues that this was in fact established by Donne, [and] is in fact an idea essential to the cavalier world view, [a] world [that] defines itself as an enclosed civilization with a private angle of vision. 28 Both it seems, also have the con- fidence to trust their own judgement in their verse. By stating that it is: the appetite / Makes eating a delight, Suckling shows his ability to assert that it is his eye which assigns beauty to things, and 21 Peter Harrison, The Bible, Protestantism and the rise of natural science, (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1998). 22 Robert Herrick, The Eye, p John Donne, The Sun Rising, p Robert Herrick, The Eye, p Robert Herrick, The Eye, p A. D. Cousins, The Cavalier World and John Cleveland, at p Robert Herrick, The Eye, p A. D. Cousins, The Cavalier World and John Cleveland, at p of 9

7 that it is only he who may change what he assigns beauty to. 29 Equally, so does Herrick in that he trusts that such a grand imitation of the universe is unnecessary since being a true artist he is able to perceive the true splendour and complexity of the universe in the microcosm of Corinna s eye. 30 Moreover, although not quite as delicately, Suckling like Herrick does fashion a contrast between two experiences. Suckling s portrayal of his daily occurrences with courtship and his apparent interaction with Cupid, are reminiscent of Herrick s presentations of the equally mundane and earthly experience of gazing into Corinna s eye with the imaginative and abstract creation of a universe. Despite Herrick s ability to present verse that is just as cynical as Suckling, much like in, No fault in women, which in Cavalier style suggests that both naturalness and uniqueness is gained by a sense of disorder, Suckling s cynicism is perhaps most present in the way that he seems to show the most opposition to the idea of persuading a reader to agree with him. Therefore, it seems that despite Suckling s egotistical arrogance, there is no ambition to influence a readers own decisions. Unlike Donne s, The Canonization, which openly startles the reader, in: For God s sake hold your tongue, and let me love, there is no desire to create verse that is powerfully provocative and persuasive. Herrick, on the other hand, possesses the ability to create images that as Cousins suggests: picture things in little or embody the forcing together of things unlike [that form] the essential manner of his art. 31 This it seems suggests that Herrick is able to make use of the artistry of wit in order to produce imagery that is aesthetically pleasing, and thus express his ability to appear as the poet virtuoso despite displaying some of the unattractive and cynical elements of the Cavalier world in his poetry. (2465 words, including all except bibliography). 29 Sir John Suckling, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), p Robert Herrick, The Eye, p A. D. Cousins, The Cavalier World and John Cleveland, at p of 9

8 Bibliography Clayton, Tom, Suckling, Sir John (bap. 1609, d. 1641?), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Jan 2008 [accessed 02/12/2013 via: ]. Corns, Thomas N., Thomas Carew, John Suckling and Richard Lovelace, in The Cambridge Companion to English Poetry, Donne to Marvell, ed. by Thomas N. Corns (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993). Cousins, A. D., The Cavalier World and John Cleveland, Studies in Philology, Vol. 78, No. 1 (Winter, 1981), [accessed 02/12/2013 via: ]. Donne, John The Canonization, Songs and Sonnets, (Norton Anthology Vol. 1), The Norton Anthology of English Literature Gen. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, 9th ed., (New York: Norton, 2012). Donne, John, The Sun Rising, Songs and Sonnets, (Norton Anthology Vol. 1), The Norton Anthology of English Literature Gen. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, 9th ed., (New York: Norton, 2012). Harrison, Peter, The Bible, Protestantism and the rise of natural science, (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1998). Henderson, Fletcher Orpin, Traditions of Précieux and Libertin in Suckling's Poetry, ELH, Vol. 4, No. 4 (Dec., 1937), [accessed 02/12/2013 via: ]. Herrick, Robert, The Eye, in Cavalier Poets: Selected Poems, ed. by Thomas Clayton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978). Jenkins, Paul R., Rethinking what Moderation Means to Robert Herrick, ELH, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Mar., 1972), [accessed 06/12/2013 via: ]. Markel, Michael H., John Suckling's Semi-Serious Love Poetry, Essays in Literature, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Fall, 1977). Rollin, Roger B., Cleanly-Wantonness and This Sacred Grove: The Theme of Love, in Robert Herrick (New York: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1966). Skelton, Robin, The Cavalier Poets, (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1960). Suckling, Sir John, Love s Clock, in Cavalier Poets: Selected Poems, ed. by Thomas Clayton (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1978). Suckling, Sir John, Sonnet: Of thee (kind boy), in The Metaphysical Poets, Selected and edited by Helen Gardner (London: Penguin Books, 1957; repr. 1985). Wannamaker, Melissa C., Discordia Concors: The Wit of Metaphysical poetry, (Washington: Kennikat Press, 1975). 8 of 9

9 Sir John Suckling, Love s Clock That none beguiled be by Time's quick flowing, Lovers have in their hearts a clock still going; For, though Time be nimble, his motions Are quicker Are thicker Where Love hath his notions. Hope is the mainspring on which moves desire, And these do the less wheels, fear, joy, inspire; The balance is thought, evermore Clicking And striking, And ne'er giving o'er. Occasion's the hand which still's moving round, Till by it the critical hour may be found; And, when that falls out, it will strike Kisses, Strange blisses, And what you best like. Suckling, Sir John, Love s Clock, in Cavalier Poets: Selected Poems, ed. by Thomas Clayton (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1978). Robert Herrick, The Eye MAKE me a heaven, and make me there Many a less and greater sphere : Make me the straight and oblique lines, The motions, lations, and the signs. Make me a chariot and a sun, And let them through the zodiac run ; Next place me zones and tropics there, With all the seasons of the year. Make me a sunset and a night, And then present the morning's light Cloth'd in her chamlets of delight. To these make clouds to pour down rain, With weather foul, then fair again. And when, wise artist, that thou hast With all that can be this heaven grac't, Ah what is then this curious sky But only my Corinna's eye? Herrick, Robert, The Eye, in Cavalier Poets: Selected Poems, ed. by Thomas Clayton (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978). 9 of 9

The Scrutiny. By Richard Lovelace

The Scrutiny. By Richard Lovelace The Scrutiny By Richard Lovelace 1618-1658 The Scrutiny What do we understand from the title of the poem? What might be under scrutiny in this poem? Why should you swear I am forsworn, Since thine I vowed