The Period of the
Cavalier Poets
(approximately 1620-1660)
[part of the late Renaissance]
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Late Renaissance
 After Elizabeth I died childless, English society
quickly went downhill.
 In 1642 England erupted in a civil war.
 Court of King Charles 1 is in place.
 Those who supported the monarchy were called
Cavaliers.
 Those who supported Parliament were known as
Roundheads.
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King’s Supporters – The Cavaliers
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Cavaliers vs. Roundheads
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Cavaliers

Roundheads
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Members of the aristocracy

Social class lower than the aristocracy

Long flowing hair and wigs

Short hair

Elaborate clothes, plumed hats

Plain dress

Self-consciously elegant pose

Direct in manner

Pro-Catholic and anti-Puritan

Puritan with strict religious beliefs

Believed in the divine right of kings

Believed in limits to king’s rule
His Cavalier
 Give me that man, that dares bestride The active
sea-horse & with pride, Through that huge field of
waters ride: Who, with his looks too, can
appease The ruffling winds and raging seas, In
the midst of all their outrages. This a virtuous man
can do, Sail against rocks, and split them too: Ay!
and a world of pikes pass through. --Sir Robert
Herrick- So…in reading this, how would you characterize
the philosophy and spirit and personality of those
who would call themselves Cavalier Poets?
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Poetry of the Cavaliers
 Many Cavaliers wrote musical, light-hearted verse
that was popular with the royal court.
 The Cavalier Poets frequently advocated the
philosophy of Carpe Diem.
 This was in juxtaposition to the serious tone of
most poetry, such as Milton’s. Many felt that poetry
should only be about elevated topics like religion
and philosophy. Therefore, it should be more
didactic in nature.
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Ben Jonson – 1572-1637
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Ben Jonson
Was a bricklayer and eventually joined the army
Married Anne Lewis in 1594
Joined a theatrical company in 1597 and was
imprisoned on Fleet St. for his involvement in a
satire entitled The Isle of Dogs
Killed a fellow actor, Gabriel Spence in a duel
Pleaded his cased, converted to R. Catholicism and
back to Anglicanism a decade later
Lord Chamberlain’s Men performed his play Every
Man in His Humor with Shakespeare in the cast – at
the Globe Theatre
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Jonson’s Fame
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
Jonson's enduring reputation rests on the comedies written between 1605 and
1614. The first of these, Volpone, or The Fox (performed in 1605-1606, first
published in 1607) is often regarded as his masterpiece. The play, though set in
Venice, directs its scrutiny on the rising merchant classes of Jacobean London.
The following plays, Epicoene: or, The Silent Woman (1609), The Alchemist
(1610), and Bartholomew Fair (1614) are all peopled with dupes and those who
deceive them. Jonson's keen sense of his own stature as author is represented by
the unprecedented publication of his Works, in folio, in 1616. He was appointed as
poet laureate and rewarded a substantial pension in the same year.

Jonson was the dean and the leading wit of the group of writers who gathered at
the Mermaid Tavern in the Cheapside district of London. The young poets
influenced by Jonson were self-styled sons or tribe of Ben, later called the
Cavalier poets, a group which included, among others, Robert Herrick, Thomas
Carew, Sir John Suckling, and Richard Lovelace.
Robert Herrick
 Robert Herrick was born in Cheapside, London in 1591



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to a prosperous goldsmith.
His father committed suicide the next year.
He later apprenticed with his uncle.
He graduated with a BA and Master of Arts in 1620 and
became one of the “sons of Ben,” Cavalier poets mixing
in literary circles in London.
In 1629, Charles I made him Dean Prior in Exeter where
he lived in the seclusion of country life and wrote some
of his best work.
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Richard Lovelace 1618-1657
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
He was the model of a courtier.

His demeanor was admired by King Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria often
taking part in military expeditions to Scotland

He favored the restoration of Anglican bishops and was imprisoned for his beliefs

After King Charles’ capture, he was imprisoned again and wrote the famous
Lucasta poems for Lucy Sacherevell who married another thinking he had died in
battle

He lived on charity and died in poverty in 1658
Young, Lusty Gentlemen
 Christopher Marlowe- died in a
bar brawl, stabbed above the eye
 Sir Walter Raleigh-one of the first
Englishmen bold enough to grow
potatoes and smoke tobacco,
imprisoned in the Tower of
London and executed
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 Andrew Marvell- “the most major
of the minor British poets,” saved
Milton’s life when Royalist came
back into power, rumored to have
been poisoned because he hated
King Charles II so much
Carpe Diem
 Carpe Diem means “seize the day”.
 In other words, the philosophy of carpe diem means to live for the
moment! Live life to the fullest here and now.
 The philosophy of carpe diem is not limited to British literature, but it
can be found throughout world literature, in movies, and in senior
year mottos.
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The spirit lives on…
 Now it’s your turn. In groups of 2, 3, or 4, make a
big list of where you see the carpe diem motto
expressed. Go into pop culture, movies, tv shows,
music, billboards, songs. Be specific, yet
appropriate. Don’t just say, “Ad campaigns.”
Which ones? What do they say?
 Also, do you think the sentiment is genuine? How
can it be used for good or for evil?
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Pastoral Poetry
As people move into the bigger cities, they begin to
romanticize rural life.
Pastoral poetry has idealized countryside, often with carefree
maidens and shepherds. Think: “pastures”
Imagery, diction, and argument used is highly sophisticated,
clearly not rural, ‘cause shepherds couldn’t read! This was a
noble’s life-of-leisure dream of what such a simple life must
be like.
Poems are not only “Carpe Diem” in nature, but are nostalgic
for simpler, more innocent times or longing for something else
They were popular up until the Romantic era, in the early
19th c.
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