Slike strani
PDF
ePub

"Haste thee, Nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,

Quips and Cranks and wanton Wiles,

Nods and Becks and wreathed Smiles."

Nor is it likely that they would have agreed with Milton's estimate of Shakspere

"That kings for such a tomb would wish to die."

The Royalists and Literature. It should be noted also that, while the period was dominated by Puritan ideals, by no means all the literature from Elizabeth's time to the Restoration was of a Puritan cast. The cause of the Stuarts never lacked followers and sympathizers; and among these were not a few who regarded literature as a fine art, and devoted themselves to writing with aims quite opposed to those of the ruling party.

In Masterman's Age of Milton, a small handbook, are treated seven royalist theoloAfter one of Van Dyck's numer- gians who used their pens to better purpose than edifica

CHARLES I.

ous portraits.

tion of the elect by long-winded sermons. Besides these there were the philosophers, whose investigations almost invariably put them into an attitude never characterized by the Puritans as less than sceptical. More important than either of these classes are the lyrists, nearly all of whom threw in their lot with the royalist or "cavalier" cause, and the greatest of whom - Carew, Lovelace, Suck

Fing, and poets. Instead d Milton Cavalier

e is th

and attit

vish to d

Overla treated in first page

[graphic]
[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[graphic]

THE CAVALIER POETS

We have remarked above that many of the lyric poets of the early seventeenth century adhered to the Cavalier cause, and were therefore called "Cavalier " poets. They are also referred to as "Caroline " poets, from their close association with the court of Charles I. ("Caroline" is from Carolus,

ify ou ora in th

onged to

the

pt H

Court cir

Writers pt H bere belo mably c

"This editions of the ses der argcainta Carriagew

[graphic]

se, elega nique

faulte

e sati-f

will not

RECEPTION HALL IN A TYPICAL CAVALIER MANSION. Home of Sir Edward Giles, Herrick's most distinguished parishioner. Latin for Charles.) The four named as greatest we are now to study somewhat at length: Thomas Carew (1598?1638?), Sir John Suckling (1609-1642), Richard Lovelace (1618-1658), and Robert Herrick (1591-1674).

[ocr errors]

Common Characteristics. While their writings show many individual traits, and while they are of by no means equal rank, they show characteristics enough in common to

[blocks in formation]
[graphic]

66

Upon Julia's Hair Fill'd with Dew (Herrick), Ellinda's
Glove (Lovelace). The fault of too many conceits
(i.e., thoughts" far-fetched and ingenious rather than natural
and obvious") is frequent, and not seldom ridiculous. Suck-
ling writes:

"Her feet beneath her petticoat
Like little mice stole in and out."

Herrick matches this with:

"Her pretty feet

Like snails did creep

A little out, and then,

As if they started at bo-peep,
Did soon draw in again."

Ellinda's glove is thus addressed by the poet :
"Thou snowy farm with thy five tenements!"

And Carew surpasses them all :

"No more the frost

Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream
Upon the silver lake or crystal stream."

Lovelace.

66

Of the merits of this school of poetry the words ease," "elegance," " delicacy," and "finish" in Professor Schelling's definition are the best indication. Of the four Lovelace is perhaps the least a poet; yet two of his poems To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars, and To Althea, from Prison would certainly be selected for any English anthology. The first contains two lines familiar to all:

"I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not honour more;"

and the whole poem is equally worthy of remembrance. In the second are found also two lines that have met universal and deserved favor:

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PrejšnjaNaprej »