Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae By Ernest Dowson 1867-1900
Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae What do we understand from the title of the poem?
Spare me, Venus, spare! Trust me, I am not the man I was in the reign of good Cynara. -- Horace, Odes Book 4.1 Horace was the leading Roman poet during the reign of the Emperor Augustus. He lived from 65BC-8BC. In the poem from which Dowson took his title, the speaker implores Venus to wage no further erotic wars on him. He is old and she should bother someone younger and better suited to love he is not the man he used to be when good Cynara used to reign over his heart. In Horace s poem, Cynara is unimportant. Her name merely provides a context for his plea to Venus he is not that man any longer and has no attachment to Cynara. In contrast, Cynara in Dowson s poem is a lost love with whom the speaker is obsessed. Its subject matter of obsession rather than love was designed to shock its Victorian reader.
Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine There fell thy shadow, Cynara! Thy breath was shed Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine; And I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head: All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat, Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay; Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet; But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, When I awoke and found the dawn was grey: I have forgot much, Cynara! Gone with the wind, Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng, Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind; But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: I cried for madder music and for stronger wine, But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire, Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! The night is thine; And I am desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire:
AO3: Context
1867-1900 Decadent Ernest Dowson Dowson was born in London to middle class parents. He attended Oxford, but left before obtaining a degree. He worked with his father at the family dry docking business and led an active social life, drinking with students, going to music halls and taking the performers to dinner. Whilst doing so, he worked on his writing and was part of the Rhymer s Club, an exclusively male organisation that aimed to duplicate the artistic atmosphere of Paris literary cafés. In 1894, Dowson s father took an overdose of medication whilst suffering the final stages of tuberculosis. His mother hanged herself a year later. Soon after, Dowson began to decline he was dejected and suffering from his own addictions. Dowson became the cliché of a drunken poet, scribbling on the back of an envelope with a glass of absinthe to drink and a cigarette hanging from his lips. His poetry expresses the woes of unrequited love and the hopeless nature of a world where tears and prayers are all in vain. In 1899, a friend found him penniless in a wine bar and took him back his home. Dowson spent the last six weeks of his life there and died from the effects of alcoholism at the age of 32. Dowson s most famous unrequited love was for an 11 year old girl, to whom he proposed when he was 23. She did not accept. She inspired several of his poetic works.
The Decadent Movement The Decadent movement was a literary movement in the 1890s combining a tendency towards sexual promiscuity with an appreciation of classical literature and mythology and a devotion to the Catholic church. They believed that art should celebrate beauty in a highly personal and polished style, and that it should not concern itself with politics. They were influenced by gothic novels, the sensuality of Romanticism and the evocative language of the Pre-Raphaelites. They promoted sexual experimentation, the value of artifice over nature, and a position of ennui (or boredom) over the value of hard work. The Decadents built on the Romantic tradition of drunken partying and embraced drugs, especially hashish, absinthe and opium. Decadence alarmed those who valued traditional norms and values. It seemed to signify a society and culture threatened to its core with decline and decay.
Cynara - Artichoke Cynara comes from the Greek word for artichoke. Myth has it that Cynara was a beautiful woman with whom Zeus fell in love. He was unable to persuade her to leave her mother and earthly home to become a goddess, so enraged he transformed her into an artichoke, forever trapping her heart in the centre of a crown of thorny leaves. In the 1600s, the artichoke was chosen by French artist Abraham Bosse to symbolize taste in a series of paintings depicting the five senses. The painting shows a huge artichoke in a raised dish, with a lady stretching out her hand to remove the first leaf. Marilyn Monroe was California s first Artichoke Queen in 1948. Artichokes represent hope and love.
AO2: Language and Imagery
Melodramatic utterance Archaic language: sense of gravitas Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine There fell thy shadow, Cynara! Thy breath was shed Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine; What was the speaker doing when he remembered Cynara? What is the poet saying here? Notice how the speaker of the poem mentions several elements twice, e.g. last night and yesternight ; Cynara s shadow and breath both appear as memories between the kisses and the wine. How does this add to the melodramatic style of the poem?
Repetition and archaic language to create melodrama of = because of And I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head: What is this old passion? What does in my fashion suggest about the speaker s attitude towards fidelity? What is the poet saying here? Is he mocking his obvious lack of it? Does he seem dishonest because the words post-caesura undermine those before it? Or does he believe that his obsession with Cynara is a form of fidelity in itself?
All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat, Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay; Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet; The longer sounds of nightlong suggests the length of the night he spent with her She is a prostitute Note how the monosyllabic words here echo the sound of her beating heart What is the poet saying here? Even though the speaker s lover is a prostitute he describes her as lying in his arms in love and sleep. Do you think the prostitute really loves him or is this only his interpretation/representation of her feelings? What other poems does this remind you of?
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, When I awoke and found the dawn was grey: Desolation; the opposite of what a hopeful dawn should look like What is the poet saying here? What is the effect of the repeated lines?
Alliteration: suggests carelessness/reckless handling of love the repetition reinforces this image Roses/Lilies compare to La Belle Dame. Does this add anything? Enjambment: the move from g to d from the front of the mouth to the back echoes the movement of dancing I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind, Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng, Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind; A dense crowd Consonance: slows down the line and reinforces the image of loss and death What is the poet saying here? Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone with the Wind described these words as a, far away, faintly sad sound. Do you agree? What is it that is gone with the wind?
Continuation of archaic language But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: Compare this to the riot and throng of the previous lines. What does this suggest about the speaker s experience of the dance? What is the poet saying here?
Comparatives: he is taking more extreme measures to forget her or to cope with her absence Alliteration links these ideas; this also links to stanza 1, where Cynara s shadow fell I cried for madder music and for stronger wine, But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire, Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! The night is thine; Death? Even the shadow of Cynara has power and presence What is the poet saying here? Notice that line 3 shifts the tense of the poem from past to present. What does this suggest about the shadow of Cynara and the effect of it on the speaker s life?
And I am desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire: Obsession/lust or love? The present tense suggests his sickness grows worse. This desolation is not just a memory but a present condition Compare this to the return to past tense for the final line. His fidelity has been constant What is the poet saying here? How do you feel about the speaker at the end of the poem?
AO2: Form / Structure
Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine There fell thy shadow, Cynara! Thy breath was shed Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine; And I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head: All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat, Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay; Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet; But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, When I awoke and found the dawn was grey: I have forgot much, Cynara! Gone with the wind, Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng, Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind; But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: I cried for madder music and for stronger wine, But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire, Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! The night is thine; And I am desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire: Can you identify the rhyme scheme?
A B A C B C A B A C B C A B A C B C A B A C B C Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine There fell thy shadow, Cynara! Thy breath was shed Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine; And I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head: All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat, Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay; Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet; But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, When I awoke and found the dawn was grey: I have forgot much, Cynara! Gone with the wind, Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng, Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind; But I was desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, all the time, because the dance was long: I cried for madder music and for stronger wine, But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire, Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! The night is thine; And I am desolate and sick of an old passion, Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire: This poem is written in alexandrines: twelve-syllable lines in iambic hexameter. This verse form is traditionally French and usually sounds monotonous when used in English. Dowson avoids this by using mono or duo-syllabic words and allowing us to linger on the emotion of every line. The poem s regularity adds to its impact. The rhyme and meter carry us along on the wave of emotion expressed. The rhyme scheme draws our attention to the middle line of each tercet (a poetic unit of three lines), especially line five, which is also shorter using iambic pentameter rather than an alexandrine which always stresses the speaker s longing for Cynara.
Cynara! Notice how Cyrana always has an exclamation mark after it. This creates a natural-seeming caesura in the last line of each stanza, adding an additional half-beat onto our reading of the line and adding emphasis to her name. It is a moment of stillness in a poem full of movement.
AO4/5: Links and Interpretations
How can we link this to other poems we have read? How does it link to attitudes towards love or lust? After Dowson s death, Oscar Wilde wrote: Poor wounded wonderful fellow that he was, a tragic reproduction of all tragic poetry, like a symbol, or a scene. I hope bay leaves will be laid on his tomb and rue and myrtle too for he knew what love was. Do you agree that this reading can be applied to Non sum qualis?
Examine the view that Ernest Dowson presents the speaker in this poem as having an obsessive attitude to love. Think about: The characteristics of love The representation of the people involved The feelings of the speaker Any imagery or language used The way the structure and form reflects this Make sure you cover all the AOs in your answer.
Fill in your CLIFS sheet for this poem. Remember, this will be a revision aid!