Typical forms: epigram, epistle, elegy, epitaph, ode Horace as model: vatic poet, to teach and delight precision, clarity, neatness, smoothness sensual, epicurean details
SIMILARITIES WITH DONNE coterie poet, small circle of audience rejects Petrarchan convention colloquial language, conversational (Jonson s is more smooth) realistic (Donne psychologically, Jonson in terms of social, public life) intellectual apprehension, argumentative (Jonson is more restrained) tight, organic structure (Donne uses conceit, Jonson uses key word which has structural function)
DIFFERENCE FROM DONNE Jonson - Roman or classical model; Donne - Medieval scholasticism J - public speech, occasional; D - personal drama, individual situation J - social wit; D - metaphysical wit J - temperate effect; D - shocking effect J - classical ideals; D - love themes J - neutral tone; D - adopting various tones
INVITING A FRIEND TO SUPPER Form: epistle; meter: heroic couplet William Camden - Jonson s teacher; classicist Classical ideal of hospitality enumeration of foods (epicurean details) Canary Wine: hospitality, moderation, rejuvenation, jolly friendship, liberty, honesty, innocence
TO PENSHURST Form: apostrophe (rhetorical address to personified thing or absent person); meter: heroic couplet ll 1-6: general description ll 7-44: natural order ll 45-75: human order ll 76-102: classical ideals of hospitality, religious virtues, and natural and social harmony ripe daughters : harmony between natural and human order, bountiful, abundant, at their prime, marriage, sexual connotation, brimming with sexual energy or maturity, sanctioned desire, extravagant (almost lascivious) but not sinful, noblesse oblige of lords to servants (like that of God to man), innocence (~ Thy lady s noble, fruitful, chaste withal - sexual but chaste)
God Man Beasts Birds Fish Tree, Fruits
King Lord Peasants Their ripe daughters
Parents Children, servants
PRAISES OF A COUNTRY LIFE translated from Horace enumeration of concrete pastoral details abundance of nature and freedom from labor implied criticism of city life (while also questioning the pastoral ideals) speaker: Usurer Alphius who wants to become a farmer ll1-8: argument; ll 9-39: natural order; ll 40-70: human order last four lines: ironic twist, punchlines
SONG: TO CELIA From his play Volpone; the speaker is an old man who is trying to seduce Celia, a young girl; amoral, illicit love parody of neoplatonic love convention Celia ~ aphrodisiac (love potion), perfume, sexual stimuli rose: carpe diem motif Not so much honoring thee - betraying the the discrepancy between the speaker s and poet s attitude the speaker is trying to convince the mistress to yield herself to him sexually but the poet is actually warning and their readers, especially the youth, against sexual indulgences
COME, MY CELIA seduction, amorous invitation octosyllabic couplet carpe diem theme (light =/ night motifs) argument: it s not sinful as long as it s kept secret
TO THE SAME amorous invitation carpe diem octosyllabic couplet number of kisses ~ number of grasses, grains of sand, drops of water, stars reflecting on Thames uncountable hyperbole no true honor or love beneath the superficial
THE HOUR-GLASS irregular meter/lines, hieroglyphic shape metaphysical dust, earth = body (Golden lads and girls all must, like chimney-sweeper, come to dust.) speaker-lover ~ fly (symbol of quick, physical lust) consumed to ashes by love s flame, restless ashes (or dust ) which moves continuously inside the hour-glass slave to lust and passion, finds no rest even in death, trapped, tormented
STILL TO BE NEAT octosyllabic couplet Caesurae -> smooth, balanced lines (for example All is not sweet, all is not sound. ) Criticize women s excessive clothing and cosmetics not sound - unsound, unnatural, artificial warning that surface can be deceitful (All that glitters is not gold) moderation in art, simplicity a grace vs. adulteries of art sprezzatura - supreme art is the art which conceals its own artistry
IF I MAY FREELY DISCOVER octosyllabic couplet protean mistress rather than a stock Petrarchan one anti-petrarchan All extremes I would have barred. - characteristic of Jonson - moderation in choice of women, in clothing (Still to be Neat), in pleasure and enjoyment (Inviting a Friend to Supper), as well as in art lustful nature of the persona (he would remain loyal to her only when he desires her, using her only to satisfy his lust) Jonson s misogyny
THAT WOMEN ARE BUT MEN S SHADOWS octosyllabic couplet, caesurae, refrain lines regular form, but metaphysical wit anti-petrarchan - reversal of men s and women s roles conversational, the speaker is giving a piece of advice to another male ( of us men )
THOUGH I AM YOUNG AND CANNOT TELL octosyllabic couplet Eros/Thanatos all extremes, heat or cold, bring about destruction two types of apocalypses: fire or flood True, spiritual love which immortalizes the soul and outlives death