Cavalier Poetry

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Cavalier Poetry
Cavalier
Chivalry
Chevalier
Horseman or Knight
An Aristocrat or Gentleman

• a.k.a.
• Sons of Ben
• or
• Neo-classicists

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Cavalier Poetry

• Light
• Based on classical models
• Restrained polished
• Themes Passage of time honor
• Witty, sophisticated, sometimes cynical
• Carpe diem

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To the Virgins Robert Herrick
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.
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• BACKGROUND
• An Invitation to Love
• Based on a poem by the Roman 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
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• Had we but World enough, and Time,This coyness,
  Lady, were no crime.We would sit down and think
  which wayTo walk, and pass our long Loves
  Day.Thou by the Indian Ganges side
  5Should'st Rubies find I by the TideOf
  Humber would complain. I wouldLove you ten years
  before the FloodAnd you should if you please
  refuseTill the Conversion of the Jews.
  10My vegetable Love should growVaster
  than Empires and more slow.An hundred years
  should go to praiseThine Eyes, and on thy
  Forehead Gaze.Two hundred to adore each Breast,
  15But thirty thousand to the rest.An
  Age at least to every part,And the last Age
  should show your Heart.For Lady you deserve this
  State,Nor would I love at lower rate.
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• But at my back I alwaies hearTimes winged
  Chariot hurrying nearAnd yonder all before us
  lyeDesarts of vast Eternity.Thy Beauty shall no
  more be found 25

Nor, in thy marble Vault, shall soundMy echoing
Song then Worms shall tryThat long preserv'd
VirginityAnd your quaint Honour turn to dust
30And into ashes all my Lust.The
Grave's a fine and private place,But none I
think do there embrace. Now therefore, while the
youthful hewSits on thy skin like morning dew,
35And while thy willing Soul
transpiresAt every pore with instant Fires,Now
let us sport us while we mayAnd now, like
am'rous birds of prey,Rather at once our Time
devour, 40Than languish in
his slow-chapt pow'r.Let us roll all our
strength and allOur sweetness up into one
BallAnd tear our Pleasures with rough
strife,Thorough the Iron gates of Life
45Thus, though we cannot make our
SunStand still, yet we will make him run.
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Notes

• 5 Ganges a river in India
• 7 Humber the river Humber in northern England,
  close to Marvells home.
• 8 the Flood this refers to the flood in
  Genesis in other words, the beginning of time
• 10 The conversion of the Jews was to take place
  just before the 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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• If you were the speaker, would you use this
  argument?
• If you were the listener, would you be tempted by
  this poem/ argument?

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A Tradition within the Neo-Classical, Cavalier
Style
The Pastoral
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Pastoral Poetry
from pastor, Latin for shepherd a literary
work dealing with shepherds and rustic
life Frequently takes the form of dialogues or
dramatic monologues Often set in Arcadia a land
of innocence and beauty Not only a genre or set
of conventions, it is often a mode by which
authors. . .have explored questions of human
equality, mans place in nature, and the nature
of faith.
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Date back to the 3rd Century, when the Greek poet
Theocritus wrote his Idyllls about the rustic
life of Sicilly for the sophisticated citizens of
Alexandria.
Other well-known writers of pastorals are Virgil,
Dante, Milton, Wordsworth, and Thoreau

• Themes include
• Love and seduction
• The corruption of the city or the court
• The beauty and simplicity of country life
• Back to Nature

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Part of this tradition is the seduction, not just
a luring away from the urban and towards the
bucolic countryside, but also a seduction of the
beloved
The companion poems, The Passionate Shepherd to
His Love Christopher Marlowe and The Nymph's
Reply to the Shepherd Sir Walter Raleigh
Come live with me and be my love, And we will
all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves,
hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain
yields. . .
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The Garden by Andrew Marvell How vainly men
themselves amaze To win the palm, the oak, or
bays And their uncessant labors see Crowned
from some single herb or tree, Whose short and
narrow-vergèd shade Does prudently their toils
upbraid While all the flowers and trees do
close To weave the garlands of repose.
Back to Nature
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Songby John Suckilng
Song to Celia Ben Jonson     
Why so pale and wan fond lover?Prithee why so
pale?Will, when looking well can't move
her,Looking ill prevail?Prithee why so
pale?Why so dull and mute young sinner?Prithee
why so mute?Will, when speaking well can't win
her,Saying nothing do't?Prithee why so
mute?Quit, quit for shame, this will not
move,This cannot take herIf of herself she
will not love,Nothing can make herThe devil
take her!
Drink to me, only with thine eyes,    And I will
pledge with mine Or leave a kiss but in the
cup,    And I'll not look for wine.The thirst,
that from the soul doth rise,        5    Doth
ask a drink divine But might I of Jove's nectar
sup,    I would not change for thine.I sent
thee late a rosy wreath,    Not so much honoring
thee,                  10As giving it a hope,
that there    It could not wither'd be.But thou
thereon didst only breathe,    And sent'st it
back to me Since when it grows, and smells, I
swear,  15    Not of itself, but thee.