Renaissance Poetry for Students

8/3/2019 Renaissance Poetry for Students

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Sir Phillip Sidney

The Sonnet: HistoryOriginated with the Italian

Petrarch ca. 1327, who wrote

317 sonnets to his beloved

Laura

Brought to England by Sir

Thomas Wyatt and HenryHoward in the early 16th

century

By the late 16th century,

hundreds of poets wrotethousands of sonnets:

Sonnets were the rap music

of the day


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Definition & Form

Asonnetis a fourteen line lyrical poem, that is, one expressing

the poets thoughts and feelings.

A formal, set rhyme scheme, though the rhyme scheme

differs depending on the type Form and theme are related: the stanzas reflect movement

through a particular thought or idea

There are two basic types

1. Petrarchan (aka Italian)

2. English (aka Shakespearean)


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Petrarchan Sonnets:

An octave (8 lines) plus asestet(6 lines)

Rhyme scheme: abba abba cde cde

The octave presents a problem or a question; the sestet offers

an answer or solution

Shakespearean Sonnets:

Three quatrains (4 lines) and a concludingcouplet (2 lines)

Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef gg

A problem or a question is developed in the quatrains; the

couplet offers a comment or conclusion

(The form easily incorporates the if. . . then

structure of a syllogism.)


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Sonnet 29

When, in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes,

I all alone beweep my outcast state,

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,

And look upon myself and curse my fate,

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed,

Desiring this mans art, and that mans scope,With what I most enjoy contented least;

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,

Like to the lark at break of day arisingFrom sullen earth, sings hymns at heavens gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.


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Sonnet 29

When, in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes, aI all alone beweep my outcast state, b

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, a

And look upon myself and curse my fate, b

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, cFeatured like him, like him with friends possessed, d

Desiring this mans art, and that mans scope, c

With what I most enjoy contented least; d?

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, e

Haply I think on thee, and then my state, f

Like to the lark at break of day arising e

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heavens gate; f

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings g

That then I scorn to change my state with kings. g

R hyme Scheme


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When, in/dis grace/with For/tune and/mens eyes,I all/a lone/be weep/my out/cast state,

Meter: Iambic Pentameter

Pentameter=Five feet of two syllables

When, in/dis grace/with For/tune and/mens eyes,

I all/a lone/be weep/my out/cast state,

Iambic Meter= Unaccented syllable + Accented Syllable


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When, in disgrace with Fortune and mens eyes, a

I all alone beweep my outcast state, bAnd trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, a

And look upon myself and curse my fate, b

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, c

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, dDesiring this mans art, and that mans scope, c

With what I most enjoy contented least; d?

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, e

Haply I think on thee, and then my state, fLike to the lark at break of day arising e

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heavens gate; f

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings g

That then I scorn to change my state with kings. g

Sonnet Structure

1

2

3


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Quatrain 1:

Paraphrase/ Tone:Sorrowful, almost hopeless tone

Poet is expressing self-pity & seems to be in a state ofdisgrace

Diction indicates the tone:disgrace alone beweep outcast trouble

deaf heaven bootless curse


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Quatrain 2:Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,


Desiring this mans art, and that mans scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;

Paraphrase:

Imagery focuses on comparison:

one more rich in hope, featured like him

The poet is expressing jealousy of others, wishing

himself like those who are luckier, those who are

better looking, more intelligent, etc.


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Quatrain 3:Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Haply I think on thee, and then my state,Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heavens gate;Paraphrase:Poet is expressing a change of tone and thoughtWhen he thinks of his beloved, his entire state changes,

like the lark arising at dawn.

Imagery changes dramatically:

lark break of day arising hymns heavens gate(All positive, almost joyful words)


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Concluding Couplet:For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings

That then I scorn to change my state with kings.Paraphrase:When the poet remembers his beloved, he feels so

fortunate and so wealthy, that he would not

change his state with anyones, not even with a

king.

Where is the turn, or shift in focus orthought?


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Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,


Desiring this mans art, and that mans scope,

With what I most enjoy contented least;Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,

Like to the lark at break of day arising

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heavens gate;

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

Haply I think on thee, and then my state, (line 10)


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A "conceit" is a fanciful notion,

expressed through an elaborateanalogy or metaphor.

From Petrarch, the poets of the

Renaissance took not only a

conventional form but alsoconventional sentiments:

Eyes like stars or the sun, hair

like golden wires, lips like

cherries, etc. are commonexamples. Petrarchan conceits

were overused to the point of

nausea in the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries.

A stock feature of this poetry is a comparison known as the

Petrarchan Conceit


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SONNET 130My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.


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17th Century Poetry


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Metaphysical PoetryHighly intellectual

Structured as subtle, witty arguments

Use of theconceit

Conversational, irregular rhythms

The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked byviolence together Dr. Samuel Johnson

Terms to apply:Paradox

Metaphysical conceit

Analogy


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John Donne Privileged background Catholic in his youth

Ambitious and worldly as

a young man But became The

passionate divine

Complex, sensuous poetry Language stretched to the

limits of its complexity.


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Two people in one:

Jack Donne

man about town

Very ambitious: attended Inns ofCourt

Part of court life

Period of sensuous, graphic lovepoetry like The Flea

THEN. . .


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Ruin and disgrace

Time in jail

Poverty and other problems

BUT. . .

Their love was real and long-lasting

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning


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Relationship with Anne,

his wife

Meaning ofvalediction

Imagery is drawn from

astronomy, alchemy, andmeteorology

The Ptolemaic Universe

Gold facts

The compass

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning


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Jot down these questions:

Who is the speaker?

What is the occasion?

Who is the audience?

What is the purpose?

What is the subject?

What is the tone (attitude)?


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AS virtuous men pass mildly away,And whisper to their souls to go,

Whilst some of their sad friends do say,

"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

So let us melt, and make no noise,No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;

Twere profanation of our joysTo tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;Men reckon what it did, and meant .

But trepidation of the spheres,Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' loveWhose soul is sensecannot admit

Of absence, 'cause it doth removeThe thing which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,That ourselves know not what it is,

Inter-assurd of the mind,Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two soAs stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no showTo move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,Yet, when the other far doth roam,

It leans, and hearkens after it,And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,Like th' other foot, obliquely run;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,And makes me end where I begun.

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning.

by John Donne


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Answer these questions:

Who is the speaker? What is the occasion?

Who is the audience?

What is the purpose?

What is the subject?

What is the tone (attitude)?

John Donne himselfHe is leaving

Anne, his wifeTo console her

The nature of love

Serious


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Read & annotate the 1st two stanzas:


Whilst some of their sad friends do say,"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

So let us melt, and make no noise, 5No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move;

Twere profanation of our joys

To tell the laity our love.profanation=violation of something sacred; defilement

laity= all those not in the clergy of a church; those outside

a profession


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Whilst some of their sad friends do say,

"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

So let us melt, and make no noise,No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;

Twere profanation of our joysTo tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;

Men reckon what it did, and meant .But trepidation of the spheres,

Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' loveWhose soul is sensecannot admit

Of absence, 'cause it doth removeThe thing which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,That ourselves know not what it is,

Inter-assurd of the mind,Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss.

Our two souls therefore, which are one,Though I must go, endure not yet

A breach, but an expansion,

Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two soAs stiff twin compasses are two;

Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no showTo move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,Yet, when the other far doth roam,

It leans, and hearkens after it,And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,Like th' other foot, obliquely run;

Thy firmness makes my circle just,And makes me end where I begun.

A Valediction Forbidding Mourning.

by John Donne


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Light Based on classical models Restrained & polished Themes: Carpe Diem ,

seduction, and honor Witty, sophisticated, sometimes cynical

Cavalier Poetry


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Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,

Old time is still a-flying:

And this same flower that smiles to-day,To-morrow will be dying.

The glorious Lamp of Heaven, the Sun,

The higher he's a getting

The sooner will his race be run,

And nearer he's to setting.That age is best which is the first,

When youth and blood are warmer;

But being spent, the worse, and worst

Times, still succeed the former.Then be not coy, but use your time;

And while ye may, go marry:

For having lost but once your prime,

You may for ever tarry.

To the Virgins

Robert Herrick


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BACKGROUND:

An Invitation to Love

Based on a poem by theRoman poet, Catullus

Cavalier in form

Rhyming couplets

Classical allusions Sophisticated and worldly

Polished and metrical


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But this is also metaphysical. . . A subtle argument in 3 parts

Shocking and grim imagery Speaker & Audience:

Marvell

His Mistress, who is coy


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What do these words mean?

Coy: Quiet and shy, but also undecided

Mistress: An unmarried young woman

Notes:


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Notes:5] Ganges:a river in India

7] Humber:the river Humber in northern England, close toMarvells home.

8] the Flood:this refers to the flood in Genesis; in otherwords, the beginning of time

10] The conversion of the Jewswas to take place just beforethe end of the world.

22] Times winged chariot:a link to Roman mythology:Apollos flying chariot drove the sun

29] quaint:elegant, artificial.

36] instant:immediate and urgent.

38] birds of prey:scavenger birds that live off of carrion,like vultures

39] devour:to eat hungrily

40] languish:to suffer in an unpleasant situation

40] slow chapp'd: slowly devouring jaws

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Renaissance Poetry for Students