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Brittany Norwood August 19, 2012 English 2322 The Evolution of British Poetry: Renaissance to Restoration From the Middle Ages to the Restoration era, Great Britain was experiencing an enormous poetic evolution. The focus of poets was shifting dramatically- from grand, idealistic themes and epic, gallant heroes, to common, ordinary people doing common, ordinary things. Poems about wars and battles, everlasting love, and the Creation of the world fell out of favor, making way for new subjects: unknown people, satire, and death. This monumental shift is epitomized by the poetry of several authors: from the epic works of The Cavaliers, Robert Herrick, John Suckling, and Richard Lovelace, and John Miltons English epic, Paradise Lost, to the more commonplace poetry of Andrew Marvell and Alexander Pope, with their ingenious use of conceit and satire, and Thomas Gray, whose Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard celebrates nature and contemplates death. The Cavalier poets were a group of writers during the English Renaissance who supported King Charles I in the English Civil War. King Charles was a connoisseur of fine arts, and demanded these men write for him, so their poetry was characterized by classical references, celebration of monarchy, and impressive knowledge of Horace, Cicero, and Ovid. These poets strove to create poetry that would impress King Charles, resulting in very high quality, scholarly works. For the most part, the subject was love, and the divine qualities of womanly virtue. An important theme in Cavalier poetry was the Latin phrase, carpe diem, or seize the day. Robert Herricks To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Upon Julias Clothes, and Upon the Nipples of Julias Breast, John Sucklings Out Upon It, and Richard Lovelaces To Althea, from Prison and To Lucasta, Going to the Wars, are prime examples of the Cavalier era in poetry. Robert Herrick was a 17th century Cavalier poet, but unlike the other Cavaliers, was not a courtier. Despite his clergyman status, Herrick is classified with the Cavaliers due to his use of

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the carpe diem theme and the grandeur with which he writes about women and love. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time is probably his most famous poem, and is well known as a work that epitomizes carpe diem. The very first line of the poem is, Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,/Old time is still a-flying, (To the Virgins). Herrick is telling the virgins to use their time wisely, and to not waste away youth, because it is the best time of their life. At the end of the poem, he encourages the virgins to marry quickly, or the opportunity will pass them by if they let their youth slip away. In his poems, Upon Julias Clothes and Upon the Nipples of Julias Breast, Herrick immortalizes various attributes of a woman whom he loves, the eponymous Julia. He describes her nipples as rich rubies blushing through a pure smooth pearl and orient too, (Upon the Nipples). He portrays Julia with the grace and eloquence fitting of fundamental Cavalier poetry. Sir John Suckling was a 17th century Cavalier who wrote poetry for King Charles I. His poems are characteristic of true Cavalier poetry due to their depiction of women and loveromanticizing them and giving their virtues an almost divine quality. His poem, Out upon it!, is about a woman who has changed him from a womanizer to a constant Lover, or in other words, a loyal suitor (Suckling). He emphasizes that he can take no credit for this sudden change, but that it is the woman, and her striking face. This gives the woman a certain power, that she can change a man through love, elevating her to an almost divine status. Richard Lovelace was a Cavalier poet most famous for his love poems addressed to creatively named (and most likely fictional) women, such as Amarantha, Ellinda, Althea, and Lucasta. In his poem, To Althea, from Prison, Lovelace writes about the freeing powers of love. He declares that although he is in prison, If I have freedome in my Love,/And in my soule am free;/Angels alone that sore above,/Injoy such Liberty, (To Althea). This glorification of love was a grand gesture common to the Cavalier era. Another of his poems, To Lucasta, Going to the Wars, although addressed to a woman and presumably written about his love for her, is more about love for his country, an obvious appeal to King Charles. In it, a man is saying goodbye to

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his lover before going off to the wars. The narrator tells his lover, I could not love thee (Deare) so much,/Lovd I not Honour more, (To Lucasta). He is saying that although he loves her very much nothing surpasses his love for his country, and by extension, for his King. Cavalier poetry was written in support of King Charles, so celebration of royalty and country was a very common theme. John Milton was born in the early 17th century, in the middle of the Renaissance era. As of that time, no English epics had been published to rival those of the Greeks and Romans, such as The Odyssey and The Aeneid. Milton sought to fill that void, and so wrote his epic about the Creation of the world, Paradise Lost. The epic poem is about Adam and Eve, and how the temptation of Satan led to their original sin, and consequently their eviction from Eden. He is the last of the English poets to write about extraordinary themes and people. After Paradise Lost, the focus begins to shift to more everyday, ordinary occurrences. Paradise Lost is the epitome of the extraordinary, the Renaissance ideals of heroism and grandeur, of idealistic people doing exciting things. Milton chose the subject of the Fall of Man because he argued that nothing could be more epic than the most classic battle of history- the battle between God and Satan, Good and Evil. Though Miltons epic is more modern than those that he is emulating, he follows the epic poem tradition to a tee. In the beginning of the poem, Milton invokes a muse, which is characteristic of ancient Greek epic poetry. This is not one of the muses of the ancient Greeks, however. This muse is actually the Holy spirit, as seen when Milton refers to it as thou o spirit (Milton). Milton also uses epic similes in order to describe Satan, such as, Thus Satan talking to his neerest Mate/With Head up-lift above the wave, and Eyes/That sparkling blaz'd, his other Parts besides/Prone on the Flood, extended long and large/Lay floating many a rood, in bulk as huge/As whom the Fables name of monstrous size,/Titanian, or Earth-Born, that warr'd on Jove,/Briarios or Typhon, whom the Den/By ancient Tarsus held, or that Sea-beast/Leviathan, which God of all his works/Created hugest that swim th' Ocean stream, (Milton). These epic similes are long, flowing, detailed accounts of Satans might

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and power, sticking to the typical epic tradition. Paradise Lost is a great example of the end of the extraordinary era of British literature, and is considered one of the last works to be written about extraordinary people doing extraordinary things. Andrew Marvell and Alexander Pope of the Metaphysical and Restoration movements respectively, wrote poetry characterized by conceit and satire, adding an element of humor that was not found in typical Renaissance poetry. These poets marked the beginning of a new era in British poetry, and era whose poetry focused on the common man, rather than exceptional ones. Marvells To His Coy Mistress shows the shift of poetrys depiction of relationships, from focusing on everlasting, divine love to the more ordinary, commonplace act of sex. Popes The Rape of the Lock shows the shift of poetrys depiction of the nobility, from celebrating and admiring their extraordinary status, to trivializing and satirizing their trite vanity. Andrew Marvell, in his Metaphysical poem, To His Coy Mistress, tries to persuade a woman, who has been denying his previous advances, to sleep with him. This is a commonplace subject, especially when compared to the Cavaliers grand, sweeping statements of love and devotion. He declares that they should sleep together now, because time is of the essence, and they both shall soon be dead. To do so he uses conceit, a poetic device in which the poet compares to objects in a metaphorical sense, but which do not have any real relation to each other. This device is characteristic of the Metaphysical era, and Marvell uses it in his poem to persuade his would-be lover. He coaxes, let us sport us while we may; /And now, like am'rous birds of prey,/ Rather at once our time devour, /Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power, (Marvell). Everlasting love is a much loftier subject than the act of sex, marking the shift between the Renaissance and Restoration eras. Alexander Pope, like Andrew Marvell, injects humor into his poetry, but he does so by way of satire. His poem, The Rape of the Lock, is about a young woman who is distraught over a man who has stolen a lock of her hair. This poem is actually based on a true story, about a pair of Popes friends whose families are in a feud over a similar scuffle. Pope means to open their eyes

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to the ridiculousness of their actions by way of satire. While Cavalier poets celebrated nobility and the upper class, The Rape of the Lock satirizes them, poking fun at their dependence on trivial things, such as one lock of hair. Last but not least is Thomas Gray, author of the famed elegy, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Thomas Gray lived at the end of the 18th century, right on the cusp of the Romantic movement in English literature. Elegy marks the end of the English evolution from extraordinary to ordinary; his poem is about the most everyday occurrence of all- death. To make his poems subject all the more ordinary, is the unknown, country village that he is writing about, and the celebration of nature that is a central theme. The quintessence of an ordinary poem about ordinary events would have to be Thomas Grays Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. In it, the poet describes a churchyard that he is standing in at great length, and then moves on to contemplating death and dying, the most common of all human experiences. He illustrates the landscape by stating, Now fades the glimmering landscape on the sight,/And all the air a solemn stillness holds,/Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,/And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds, (Gray). He then takes in the fact that he is surrounded on the dead, and comments that For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,/Or busy housewife ply her evening care, (Gray). He is saying that the dead do not even get to experience the most simple things in life. There is nothing more common than death; it is every humans last great adventure. The evolution of British poetry from epic to commonplace, extraordinary to ordinary, celebratory to satirical, can be attributed to the atmosphere of Great Britain during the 17th and 18th centuries, most notably to the evolution of the middle class. Since the middle class was growing in numbers, their education was being given more focus, and subsequently improved upon. This new character and thoroughness of education for the middle class resulted in more poetry, literature, and other art forms being devoted to their status and way of life. The upper class were not the only people writing poetry anymore, and that accounts for the shift in focus of

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English poetry from the extraordinary to the ordinary. With the Cavliers (Herrick, Suckling, and Lovelace) and Miltons works, To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, Upon Julias Clothes, Upon the Nipples of Julias Breast, Out Upon It!, To Althea, from Prison, To LUcasta, Going to the Wars, and Paradise Lost, respectively, we see how during the early 17th century British poetry was centered on extraordinary events, such as love, carpe diem, and the Creation of the World. And then, with Marvells and Popes To His Coy Mistress and The Rape of the Lock, respectively, we see how poetry moved toward humor and satire. Finally, with Thomas Grays Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, we see Britains final stop at poetry about ordinary events and common people.

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Works Cited Gray, Thomas. "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Herrick, Robert. "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Herrick, Robert. "Upon Julias Clothes." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Herrick, Robert. "Upon the Nipples of Julias Breast." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Lovelace, Richard. "To Althea, from Prison." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Lovelace, Richard. "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Marvell, Andrew. "To His Coy Mistress." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Milton, John. "Paradise Lost." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Pope, Alexander. "The Rape of the Lock." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006. Suckling, John. "Out Upon It." The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.: 2006.