The Jacobean Era
(1603-1625)
Historical Context
Death of Elizabeth I, succeeded by James Stuart in
1603
Deep religious and political unrest in England
English Puritans => America
Political ferment in the House of Commons
Philosophical and intellectual changes
Modern astronomy- Copernicus and Galileo
Undermining of faith and older world view (divinely
ordered universe, Great Chain of Being)
Metaphysical Poetry
Origins
Definition of “metaphysical”: highly abstract, subtle, or
abstruse
The term "metaphysical," as applied to the group of
seventeenth-century English poets, was used by
Augustan poets John Dryden and Samuel Johnson to
reprove those poets for their "unnaturalness.”
Intellectual and theological concepts
Definitions
Metaphysical conceit- an unusual and intellectual
metaphor that makes a comparison between two
startlingly different things. Extended simile.
Paradox- an apparent contradiction which turns out on
close inspection to yield a valuable perception or reveal
a kind of truth
Characteristics
Tendency toward psychological analysis of the emotions of
love and religion
Characterized as intellectual, analytical, psychological,
disillusioning, bold
Desired to express honestly, if unconventionally, the poet’s
sense of the complexities and contradictions of life
Verbal wit and excess
Extended, elaborate, highly intellectual imagery
From “Meditation 17”
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a
piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be
washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if
a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s
or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never
send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
John Donne
Cavalier Poetry
Definitions of “cavalier”
n.- A gallant or chivalrous man, especially one serving
as escort to a woman of high social position; a
gentleman.
adj. - Carefree and nonchalant; jaunty.
17th century Cavalier poets were soldiers and courtiers
first, authors only incidentally.
Ideal of the Renaissance man
Characteristics
Lighthearted in tone, secular in subject matter
Graceful, melodious, polished in manner
Licentious
Witty
Cynical
Courtly themes of love, war, chivalry, loyalty
Response to death: “carpe diem”
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Gather ye rosebuds while ye
first,
may,
When youth and blood are
Old Time is still a-flying;
warmer;
And this same flower that But being spent, the worse,
smiles today
and worst
Tomorrow will be dying.
Times still succeed the
former.
The glorious lamp of heaven,
the sun,
Then be not coy, but use
The higher he's a-getting,
your time,
The sooner will his race be
And while ye may, go
run,
marry;
And nearer he's to setting. For having lost but once your
prime,
You may forever tarry.
-Robert Herrick