Late Renaissance Poetry & Prose Final

I. PART I

i. ‘Why Must I Thus Forever Be Confined,’ Hester Pulter

In “Why Must I Thus Forever be Confined,” by Hester Pulter, rhyme scheme and meter play a major role in the flow and continuity of the poem. In heroic couplet, rhyming lines of iambic pentameter (10 syllable lines), Pulter explores the ways in which she is trapped in her life and she uses natural symbolism to explore how everyone and everything else seems more free by comparison.

The poetic form is strict and unyielding, which could have been employed to signify a symbolic entrapment inside of her status quo/routine as a woman in her time. In the poem’s entirety, a plethora of creatures are used to symbolize “freedom”, but in the passage provided, it is limited only to the birds: birds in general, the halcyon, the swan, the ravens, and the ostrich (though there is a  singular mention of a horse at the end). The birds can fly and escape wherever they so desire, all while Hester Pulter was presumably staring form a window, in the proverbial cage of her house.

The style of the poem is taut, like the chains she feels she has, and the fact that she chose to write it with such a strict form and combined with the length of the poem, it seems to suggest the ceaseless torment she feels at the ‘duty’ she feels she has as a woman. We have seen poems that are more free form, or if not free form, stylistically changed, (ones written by women) so it’s not like it was a situation of not having the choice to do that. The form is symbolic of her own struggles, an embodiment in every way.

 

ii. ‘Areopagitica,’ John Milton

In Areopagitica, by John Milton, he explores the nature of truth and employs rhetoric to do so, or the art of persuasion to further his own political beliefs of freedom of speech. The passage provided is one of the most important passages in the entire argument. In the passage, Milton outlines why coming to your own conclusion is essential. To only believe in something because someone else told you to is a cheap substitute of exercising one’s brain. If one does not do the work and instead relies on others to form their own opinions, it is not one’s own opinion, thus becoming a “sheep”.

The brain needs exercise, flow, or it stagnates and rots. Milton equates the seeking of knowledge to the flow of water from a fountain—employing metaphor and imagery to further his point, to make it crystal clear to readers (or on-lookers to the speech) what exactly he means.

If a person speaks only of what other’s think, they are not employing their own opinions and thus not being truthful. Milton further states that to rely on other’s opinions to form your own is actually a form of heresy, heresy being ‘contrary to religious standards’ in this context. As an example, simply believing in God because a pastor tells you to, and not because you, yourself, truly believe that, is actually at odds with yourself and to the church because it is a form of disbelief in not seeking that truth on your own and confirming it within one’s self.

 

iii. ‘Of Studies,’ Francis Bacon

In the passage supplied by Francis Bacon, in “on Studies,” Bacon explores the different ways books should be read, depending on the quality and merit of the book in question. In addition, he uses epexegesis to further examine what he means when he speaks in metaphor.

“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few are to be chewed and digested.”

Bacon’s usage of figurative speech really aids in the understanding of what he means here. Some books should be not read in full, others should be casually perused, and others still, fewer in number, should be read in full and taken seriously. He also makes the point that distilled books are “flashy” which seems to suggest that distilled books lack substance or anything of value other than looking pretty in itself, which Bacon is fundamentally against; Bacon believes art should exist for a purpose, not for the sake of it. One should read books that add value to one’s life, and a fancy cover will not change the contents.

Bacon was interested in rhetoric, and it is evident from the passage. This passage is integral to the rest of the essay as it sets up expectations and provides a context and basis for what he means even in terms of types of books before he gets on to how reading is beneficial. Not every book is equally useful, and the distinction is so important because everything else he says builds off of the knowledge you gain from this one, tiny section.

 

II. PART 2

i. ‘To His Coy Mistress,’ Andrew Marvell

Metaphysical poetry is categorized by the use of inventive, complex, and bold statements which are used to illustrate grand ideas. Often times, the statements are paradoxical and are used at a symbolic level to show imagery by drawing on big ideas to show a smaller point.

In Andrew Marvell’s “To His Coy Mistress”, the use of hypothetical situations are heavily relied upon to display the ‘vastness’ of his love. In a nutshell, the poem is about love in the now as opposed to love later, as death is coming for us all, and there is no love in death. It is a poem that employs metaphor and hyperbole to inflate the worth of his love.

“A hundred years should go to praise thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; two hundred to adore each breast, but thirty thousand to the rest.”

He is saying if time were irrelevant to us, I would adore you as you deserve, but time for us is finite so I cannot love you in the way you deserve. The poem itself starts off with an unrealistic conjecture, “had we but world enough and time” and he continues for the first half of the poem fantasizing about how their love would transpire if they were immortal, which is a grand gesture if ever there was one.

The second half of the poem is waking from that dream and wanting to make the most of their reality, say being mortal entities, and wanting to take her virginity, uses metaphor “iron gates of life” to make it seem a romantic notion to sleep with him and to “make him run.” There is also wordplay here, “sun” sounding like “son” and the possibility of pregnancy from the union. It participates in the tradition of metaphysical poetry in how it depicts love as this bigger-than-life thing.

 

ii. ‘To Penshurst,’ Ben Jonson

The provision of financial or other material assistance to a writer by a wealthy person or public institution, in return for entertainment, prestige, or homage,” and the less prestigious variation of definition included, “a wretch who supports with insolence, and is paid with flattery.”

As the writing process is not instantaneous, it requires funding, and writers who were less well-off required aid in the finance department in order to write. Ben Jonson relied on patronage to aid his career and standing as he was the son of a clergyman and stepson of a bricklayer. He did not attend university because of funding, so obtaining patronage was a means of doing what he wanted to do.

In Ben Jonson’s, “To Penshurst”, he uses flattery to obtain what he wants, and he romanticizes the grounds, the animals, the workers, the lord, and the king in order to soften people towards him. Patronage is calculated flattery, and it’s grandiose homage. Jonson uses symbolism and mythology to immortalize the image of Penshurst; by equating the grounds and the people to mythology, it presents the image as “everlasting” and powerful.

Patronage is a symbiotic relationship and it aids the writer—in the sense he or she gets to continue writing and not starve to death in the mean time—and the patron gets publicity and is immortalized on the page. It is highly political and it severely dampens freedom of speech, particularly if one is not fond of their patron (in general). The imagery is flowery and abundant, and the piece depicts Penshurst as a paradise, and it is unrealistic in approach such as “fish leaping into nets” as though everything comes easily when in this one place.

 

iii. ‘Sonnet 77,’ Mary Wroth

A sonnet is a form of poetry that contains 14 lines in iambic pentameter. There are two main subsets of the sonnet being English sonnet and Italian sonnet. There is slight variation between the two: English sonnets have a rhyme scheme of ABBA CDDC EFFE GG, always with 3 quatrains and a rhyming couplet at the end, while an Italian sonnet has ABBA ABBA CDE CDE, or an octave and sestet (8 lines and 6 lines).

Mary Wroth’s Sonnet 77 is very interesting in how she chooses to manipulate the form. Her form is ABABBABA CDCD EE. The pattern of the AB’s is symmetrical and takes elements of the English and the Italian. It has what is essentially an octave, a quatrain, and a couplet. It is very inventive and allows for a degree of flexibility and “newness” to a very standard form.

In addition, by having the eight lines, it allows for the idea to be stretched further because usually, ideas are contained in the respective set, and traditionally, she would have only had four lines to do so, but in the blended model, it creates a certain tension by having the pace increase by two-fold. The descending pattern of lines being divided in half each time (from eight to four to two) it creates tension as a decision is being made.

The result is itself a bit of a labyrinth, a call to the first line, which sets up an expectation of strangeness throughout the poem in a way that is almost foreshadowing.

 

*The final exam had unlabelled passages that were to be firstly, identified by title and author, and then further analyzed.