WHY SO PALE AND
WAN?
SIR JOHN SUCKLING
SIR JOHN SUCKLING
(1609-1642)
The classification of “Cavalier” implies an
allegiance to Charles I in his political and
military battles against various
Parliamentarian or religious groups
during the 1620s through Charles’
execution in 1649.
“Cavalier” also implies that these poets
were “gentlemen,” that they bore arms
and rode horse in battle when the civil
wars raged from 1642 to 1648 and that
they were carefree gallants.
Suckling an aristocrat who was also a
soldier involved in political intrigue.
Known for his notorious gambling and his
conquests of women, his poem reflects the
carpe diem theme and Suckling’s wit.
BACKGROUND
• Why So Pale and Wan is a lyric
poem with three five-line stanzas.
It appeared as a song in a play
(Aglaura) that Suckling debuted
in London 1637.
• The play, set in Persia, centers on
love, intrigue, and treachery.
After the performance, the
character Orsames reveals that
he is the author and tells another
character that the words were
“A Little foolish counsel, madam, I
gave / A friend of mine four or
five years ago, / When he was
falling into a consumption.
SCENARIO
A young man, who is
failing in his schemes to
win the heart of a
young woman, receives
advice from a friend.
SUMMARY
The friend advises the
young man to cease
wooing the young lady.
If she refuses to return his
love, nothing he can do
or say will change her
mind.
Quit, quit for shame! This will not move;
This cannot take her.
If of herself she will not love,
Nothing can make her:
The devil take her.
STRUCTURE AND RHYME
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• The first and third lines of each stanza
contain eight syllables; the second,
fourth, and fifth lines contain five
syllables.
• The first two stanzas ask questions that
present and comment on the young
man’s problem. The last stanza suggests
a solution.
• The sentences in the second stanza are
nearly identical syntactically to those in
the first; the sentences in the final stanza
are also syntactically similar.
• In each stanza, the first line rhymes with
the third, and the second rhymes with
the fourth and fifth.
FORM AND
STRUCTURE
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• The first stanza describes the physical change in the male
lover. The second dwells on his strange muteness. The last
concludes with a forceful solution to the lover’s problem.
• The “why” asked at the beginning of the first and second
stanzas are meant to introduce rhetorical questions.
• “Quit” in the last stanza is the advice the speaker
intended from the beginning.
STRUCTURE
• The poem is a logical
argument.
• The first two stanzas establish
the problem and the futility of
the situation. The final stanza
delivers a logical solution:
“the devil take her!”
• The construction of each
stanza—five lines, ABABB
rhyme scheme, regular meter
with 8-5-8-5-5 syllables—shows
a focused, organized, logical
argument, not an emotional
one.
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SOUND DEVICES
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• As a lyric poem, the use of repetition
and the two rhetorical questions create
a parallel structure that adds to the
musicality of the lyric.
• The third stanza introduces a forceful
tone: “Quit, quit.” These two terse words
underscore the ridiculousness and
childishness of the male lover’s attitude.
The structure is then a rhetorical
question followed by the answer to the
problem.
• To further accentuate the shallowness
of the lover’s action, the poem employs
the alliteration in “pale, prithee,
prevail.” The use of alliteration
throughout the poem creates euphony
and rhythm.
ALLITERATION
The alliteration of “w”
and “p” in the first
stanza and the “m”
in the second stanza
are harsh sounds that
contribute to the
aggressive or
sarcastic manner of
the speaker.
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• The use of caesuras creates a reflective effect of the rhetorical questions
after “wan” in stanza one, “prithee” in stanza two and even “will” in
stanza three. These are used to make the male lover pause and reflect
on the rationality of his love-sick attitude.
• The frustration of the speaker reaches its peak in in the final exclamation,
“the devil take her!”
• The end-stops at every line in the poem creates a sense of seriousness for
a trivial situation.
DICTION / VOCABULARY
• The diction is simple and
colloquial at times. This is
enhanced by the
monosyllabic form of most
words, which makes a more
emphatic point.
• The diction mostly depicts
negativity of a sorrowful, dull
and melancholy situation,
occasioned by love-sickness
in words such as “pale, wan,
dull, sinner, mute, devil,” etc.
unexpressedthoughts.com
TONE
The speaker is
frustrated with his
friend, so his tone is
sarcastic. There is,
however, a bit of
sympathy for the
lover in the final
stanza when the
speaker directs his
anger at the woman.
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Works Cited
http://www.cieliterature.com/2014/03/11/why-so-pale-and-wan-fond-lover/
http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides6/suckling.html