S I R J O H N S U C K L I N G

WHY SO PALE AND WAN?

The classification of “Cavalier” implies an allegiance to Charles I in his political and military battles against various Parliamentarian or religious groups during the 1620s through Charles’ execution in 1649.

“Cavalier” also implies that these poets were “gentlemen,” that they bore arms and rode horse in battle when the civil wars raged from 1642 to 1648 and that they were carefree gallants.

Suckling an aristocrat who was also a soldier involved in political intrigue. Known for his notorious gambling and his conquests of women, his poem reflects the carpe diem theme and Suckling’s wit.

SIR JOHN SUCKLING (1609-1642)

BACKGROUND

• Why So Pale and Wan is a lyric poem with three five-line stanzas. It appeared as a song in a play (Aglaura) that Suckling debuted in London 1637.

• The play, set in Persia, centers on love, intrigue, and treachery. After the performance, the character Orsames reveals that he is the author and tells another character that the words were “A Little foolish counsel, madam, I gave / A friend of mine four or five years ago, / When he was falling into a consumption.

A young man, who is failing in his schemes to win the heart of a young woman, receives advice from a friend.

SCENARIO

The friend advises the young man to cease wooing the young lady. If she refuses to return his love, nothing he can do or say will change her mind.

SUMMARY

Quit, quit for shame! This will not move; This cannot take her.If of herself she will not love, Nothing can make her: The devil take her.

STRUCTURE AND RHYME

• The first and third lines of each stanza contain eight syllables; the second, fourth, and fifth lines contain five syllables.

• The first two stanzas ask questions that present and comment on the young man’s problem. The last stanza suggests a solution.

• The sentences in the second stanza are nearly identical syntactically to those in the first; the sentences in the final stanza are also syntactically similar.

• In each stanza, the first line rhymes with the third, and the second rhymes with the fourth and fifth.

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• The first stanza describes the physical change in the male lover. The second dwells on his strange muteness. The last concludes with a forceful solution to the lover’s problem.

• The “why” asked at the beginning of the first and second stanzas are meant to introduce rhetorical questions.

• “Quit” in the last stanza is the advice the speaker intended from the beginning.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

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STRUCTURE

• The poem is a logical argument.

• The first two stanzas establish the problem and the futility of the situation. The final stanza delivers a logical solution: “the devil take her!”

• The construction of each stanza—five lines, ABABB rhyme scheme, regular meter with 8-5-8-5-5 syllables—shows a focused, organized, logical argument, not an emotional one.

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SOUND DEVICES

• As a lyric poem, the use of repetition and the two rhetorical questions create a parallel structure that adds to the musicality of the lyric.

• The third stanza introduces a forceful tone: “Quit, quit.” These two terse words underscore the ridiculousness and childishness of the male lover’s attitude. The structure is then a rhetorical question followed by the answer to the problem.

• To further accentuate the shallowness of the lover’s action, the poem employs the alliteration in “pale, prithee, prevail.” The use of alliteration throughout the poem creates euphony and rhythm. 1person1story.com

The alliteration of “w” and “p” in the first stanza and the “m” in the second stanza are harsh sounds that contribute to the aggressive or sarcastic manner of the speaker.

ALLITERATION

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• The use of caesuras creates a reflective effect of the rhetorical questions after “wan” in stanza one, “prithee” in stanza two and even “will” in stanza three. These are used to make the male lover pause and reflect on the rationality of his love-sick attitude.

• The frustration of the speaker reaches its peak in in the final exclamation, “the devil take her!”

• The end-stops at every line in the poem creates a sense of seriousness for a trivial situation.

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DICTION / VOCABULARY

• The diction is simple and colloquial at times. This is enhanced by the monosyllabic form of most words, which makes a more emphatic point.

• The diction mostly depicts negativity of a sorrowful, dull and melancholy situation, occasioned by love-sickness in words such as “pale, wan, dull, sinner, mute, devil,” etc.

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The speaker is frustrated with his friend, so his tone is sarcastic. There is, however, a bit of sympathy for the lover in the final stanza when the speaker directs his anger at the woman.

TONE

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http://www.cieliterature.com/2014/03/11/why-so-pale-and-wan-fond-lover/http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides6/suckling.html

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Works Cited