Age Of Milton - other Poets And Prose Writers Flashcards
The Age of Dryden and the age of Milton really overlap. What should we do then?
For brevity we will confine ourselves to classifying writers according to their writing style as belonging to older or newer generation, instead of chronology.
What does Caroline poets mean?
Verse writers whose work can be roughly assigned to reign of Charles I
Some were secular and some religious
Who was the most important Caroline poet?
Robert Herrick
What did Robert Herrick do and who was he?
He wrote both religious and secular poetry with equal felicity.
He was in early life an associate of Ben Jonson.
Herrick went into church business and found himself unhappy.
He was deprived of his living after the Civil war and reinstated at the Restoration.
Talk about Robert Herricks poetry and their character, MOST important feature.
His religious poetry ‘ Noble Numbers’ and his secular poetry ‘ Hesperides” were published under the same volume. It in his secular poetry his best power is shown.
They are miscellaneous in character, but all delightful in naturalness.
And their most important feature is complete detachment from politics of the day, preferring to sing of the joys of life with a sense of their brevity.
What kind of poetry did the Cavalier group of Caroline poets write?
Almost fully secular
Name some of the Cavalier group of Caroline poets and what did they do?
Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling, Richard Lovelace
They were all poets in the lighter vein who did not take their art seriously but did an extremely good job.
Name some of the Cavaliers poems where the amatory verse is marked with lyrical quality.
Carews ( He that loves a rosy cheek)
Sucklings( Why so pale and wan, fond lover?)
Lovelaces ( To Althea from Prison)
Talk about Andrew Marvell. To which school of poets did he belong to?
His earlier work shows many characteristics of the Cavalier school.
In politics and religion he was on the other side and after Restoration he changed his poems, writing rugged satire on Charles II and his supporters.
Name and talk about the religious Caroline poets.
Most widely known through not greatest is George Herbert. His collection ( The Temple) breathes purest piety.
Richard Crashaw though at times ruined by conceits, has far greater fire of passion.
Henry Vaughan, while directly influenced by Herbert, is more deeper and mystical.
The ( Religious Emblems) of Francis Quarles were very popular and decorated by engravings.
Who is the chief representative of the metaphysical school and remembered in his day as the greatest of poets?
Abraham Cowley
Who applied the name “ metaphysical” to this school first and how is this important?
Samuel Johnson and it’s important for our critical vocabulary
What are the features of metaphysical poets?
Their work is full of conceits,
In their effort to surprise by boldness and novelty,
They indulge in strained metaphors and extravagant hyperbole.
They cultivate ingenuity and natural expression of feeling at the cost of logic.
They employ their vast out-of-the-way learning carelessly without rules.
Samuel Johnson says they deviate from nature to strangeness.
Generally they are harsh and obscure. Only from time to time they give passages of real beauty, proving that genius can escape vicious theories.
Who were the three religious Cavalier poets who were also metaphysical ?
Crashaw, Herbert, Vaughan
How did Cowley develop his style later?
In his later poetry he discards much of his former extravagance and takes the sober style of the next generation.
Talk about Thomas Traherne, whose manuscripts were lost to sight for nearly 200 years after death.
He is a metaphysical poet. His manuscripts were found early in 20th century, Traherne was recognised as one of the greatest 17th century poets.
Through His volume of (Poems).
His ( Centuries of Meditations) show he is a great prose writer also.
Traherenes work has much of the difficulty common to the metaphysical but also beauty, eloquence and profound spiritual feeling.
The Caroline prose writers.
Talk about some works written by divines and Puritans.
( Holy Living)( Holy Dying) of eloquent divine Jeremy Taylor
( The Saints Everlasting Rest) of Puritan Richard Baxter.
Are all acknowledged religious classics.
The witty and vivacious divine Thomas Fuller, is best remembered for his delightful miscellaneous ( Worthies of England ).
Talk about a Caroline prose writer who was a physician.
Sir Thomas Browne a physician was the author of the famous personal religious confession ( Religio Medici).
Talk about a Caroline prose writer who made a highly special subject get general charm. How so?
He also wrote some admirable biographies.
( The Compleat Angler ,or the Contemplative Mans Recreation) by Izaak Walton.
Designed for instruction of fishermen but has pleasant gossipy and rustic style.
Talk about a Caroline prose writer who did history genre.
( History of the Great Rebellion) by Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
While untrustworthy because of Royalist bias, has skillful character studies
Talk about a Caroline prose writer who wrote in politics genre.
( Leviathan) by Thomas Hobbes advocates strong central government and was the most important political treatise inspired by its time.
Do we recognise modern prose style in the Caroline authors?
No
