Close Reading Response to Poems that Describe Robert Herricks Devotion to Ben Jonson - Essay Example

Close Reading Response to Poems that Describe Robert Herrick’s Devotion to Ben Jonson In the light of understanding the depth of ties between Robert Herrick and Ben Jonson and the profound devotion which the former is well noted for toward the latter, it would serve as an appropriate aid to examine the period in history and the state of society in which these two remarkable poets lived and confronted their colorful fates. Herrick and Jonson were born during the Renaissance or that momentous part of history marked by the ‘rebirth of classical learning’ through which the arts, literature, philosophy, and science flourished to heights as though to celebrate the oblivion of the dark medieval past. Not that Herrick had naturally established faith and fascination in Jonson’s works owing to acclaimed greatness of one and the fellowship sought by the other thereafter, but that both may be realized to share common struggles and intricacies of living which their human nature had to deal with besides the ideals discerned via literary endeavour. By a number of aspects which Herrick and Jonson held in regard can be determined how certain compositions of Herrick chiefly reflect those of Jonson in terms of theme, form, tone, and characteristic philosophy governing their poems. As made manifest in pieces such as “Inviting a Friend to Supper” and “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”, the thematic contents may be analyzed to bear a similar philosophy of celebrating ‘carpe diem’ or the moral of the thought concerning why the day ought to be seized. On one hand, the third person speaker in the poem which Herrick addressed to the virgins expresses at the onset: “Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, / Old Time is still a-flying” (1 – 2) and in the last stanza, proceeds with: “Then be not coy, but use your time, / And while ye may, go marry; / For having lost but once your prime, / You may forever tarry” (13 - 16). One readily understands Herrick’s carpe diem position herein as the poetic substance speaks to the intended audience straight to the point about how precious time is that while “youth and blood are warmer”, it must be expended at the optimum. To the speaker, time is of high essence that he occurs to necessitate reminding the maidens of the grave consequence of regret so that it should not matter whether they unknowingly spend time in the hands of misfortune, for great and worst moments alike each amount to a time fully utilized. Jonson, likewise, signifies through his first-person speaker in the work “Inviting a Friend to Supper” stating, though without direct reference to time: “No simple word / That shall be uttered at our mirthful board, / Shall make us sad next morning or affright / The liberty that we’ll enjoy tonight” (39 – 42). With these final lines of the piece, the main character may be felt to have acknowledged the value of taking care not to waste being in the company of the invited special guest who happens to be a friend. Seizing the day in this case is seemingly alluded in making the most of a feast by summoning a dignified man whose worth is considered to equate the value of a sumptuous bounty of treats which the host prepares. On account of personal life, each poet may be found with relatively comparable undertakings of austere reality in early youth. Based on the findings of E.H. Haight, Herrick grew up fatherless and “In 1607, he was bound apprentice for ten years to his uncle, a goldsmith, but apparently the contract was broken” (Haight 178). Little fortune for remittance from his guardian uncle was available for Herrick to sustain matriculation at the university whereas Jonson, working for his stepfather’s trade in bricklaying, managed to acquire high quality of education at Westminster School. Both may be claimed to have quite a similar take on fate, being displeased with the initial careers assigned to them then looking for a way out so that Herrick’s path eventually led to priesthood and that of Jonson headed to the military. When the two became acquainted in the world of poesy, Renaissance must have had an appreciable influence as to engage the two men in the beauty of deep thought to escape the unpleasant conflict of nature, life, and society and translate it into lyrical words. Apparently, Jonson’s vast experience and rich input in literature earned followers who founded the so-called “Sons of Ben” of which Herrick was a notable devoted member whose passionate interest in Jonson’s poetic works enabled him to adopt a style of writing coupled with ample insights of wonder involving movement, spectacle, and festival. One would suppose that somehow, this situation could be regarded the guardianship which Herrick might have yearned for if he ever did upon the demise of his real father. Other than the evident sameness in philosophical stance, there appears to be a significant degree of similarity in classical form between Jonson’s and Herrick’s compositions. For one, a critical reader would readily observe that both poets came up with titles that identify the target audience to whom the poems are particularly addressed as in “To Penshurst”, “On My First Son”, and “On My First Daughter” by Jonson and “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Herrick. Because it was a principal part of their goal to educate the public and make them gradually perceive the meaning of enlightenment in the Renaissance era, the poets wrote as they would for a lay person or for the general comprehension of the citizenry. Hence, despite the rigid standards of the 17th century poetry, their poems consist of form and metric pattern, mostly in couplet, that was altogether less complicated to follow. As such, the end rhyme in the passage with last syllables “show / row / gold / told /pile / while / air / fair” of Jonson’s “To Penshurst” exhibits a simple rhyming scheme which seems to assume a tone that illustrates a mood the common readers can relate with though it emerges political by nature. The form and rhythm of “To Penshurst” had been arranged in a manner that brings about comprehension of ethics regarding social order which Jonson believes to depend on human affection and harmonious relationship rather than the force imposed on people in order for them to abide by the rule of law. In the poem “Upon Julia’s Clothes”, Herrick employed end rhyme as well in both stanzas via ending syllables “goes / flows / clothes” and “see / free / me” that aids the speaker’s attitude in communicating his enchantment of how Julia carries herself in a stunning dress, and correspondingly of the woman’s beauty therefrom. Juxtaposing the two poems, one finds on reading a familiar sensibility in the way the lyrical pieces were structured and substantiated according to how people at the time could have imagined phrases being conveyed into their everyday course of thinking and perception. Moreover, Herrick could have derived much inspiration in Jonson’s perspective of hope that is evoked through the lines: “For only / Will man lament the state he should envy? / To have so soon ‘scap’d world’s and flesh’s rage” (5 – 7) indicating that Jonson wrote “On My First Son” for the world to treat death not as an ultimate loss but, on the far contrary, a huge gain in the shape of relief from all the exhausting troubles of the earth that cause men to be weak. The same principle echoes in Jonson’s “On My First Daughter” – the part where the father expresses “At six months’ end she parted hence / With safety of her innocence; / Whose soul heaven’s queen, whose name she bears, / In comfort of her mother’s tears” (5 - 8). This is to see beyond death for which majority measures the length of life, perceiving it to be the most dreadful event that ends life and all the opportunities that go with it. Instead, mothers and fathers should realize that a child’s early death implies eternal security in a place above the earth, for such child would be certain to have innocence that remains intact – one that could never, not even at the slightest, cross a state of ruin due to material existence. Equivalently, Herrick’s “Delight in Disorder” speaks of a positive insight into lack of order, claiming “A sweet order in the dress / Kindles in clothes a wantonness” (1 – 2) in the beginning and “Do more bewitch me, than when art / Is too precise in every part” (13 - 14). Like the hopes brought across by Jonson on a subject extremely opposed to every human favour in the world of the living, Herrick presented a compatible amount of hopefulness by negating the natural opposition to disorder. For Herrick, disorder possesses a peculiar attribute which adds life to a dull norm or spark in the ordinary nature of things, mentioning “fine distraction” and “wild civility” so that it serves a rational imperative for a man to delight upon what is otherwise often felt to be problematic or disastrous. Herrick’s poetry furthermore exudes a view of likeness to Jonson’s fashion with poems for constructing pieces that are not necessarily figurative yet without losing imagery and other appropriate literary tools required to produce vigor in capturing not only the audience’s capacity of thought for enlightenment on a matter of interest but even more to that, the core spot of one’s emotion and imagination. When Jonson composed “To Penshurst”, for instance, he occurred to have paid no consideration on entertaining serious tone and focused, nevertheless, on a poetic design that yields the reading process to an increasing sense of adventure. With the portion: “The painted partridge lies in every field, / And for thy mess is willing to be killed. / And if the high-swollen Medway fail thy dish, / Thou hast thy ponds, that pay thee tribute fish” (29 – 32), Jonson’s second-person speaker in the narrative takes the reader to the scenic experience filled with live images of a natural environment. All throughout, the poem can be felt to draw a heart towards something rural and traditional with recognition to the essence of culture and craftsmanship with which humanities make the most of whiles. Similarly, Herrick connects to his audience with a hint of adventure in mind by means of writing brief and compact verses made light with a bit of romantic marvel as in the details “Next, when I cast mine eyes, and see / That brave vibration each way free, / O how that glittering taketh me!” (4 - 6) in “Upon Julia’s Clothes”. Essentially, this area of the passage could stand a chance of becoming a basic humor of courtship, anyway since the author did not elaborate on the identity of the speaker that one is likely encouraged to run down possibilities of interpreting the role he plays in Julia’s life. Works Cited Haight, Elizabeth H. “Robert Herrick: The English Horace.” JSTOR: The Classical Weekly. Web. 24 Dec 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4386404. Jokinen, Anniina. “The Life of Ben Jonson.” Luminarium. 9 Sep 2003. Web. 26 Dec 2013. http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/benbio.htm. Jonson, B. “On My First Son.” PoemHunter.com. 2013. Web. 26 Dec 2013. http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/on-my-first-son/. Ben Jonson and the Cavalier Poets. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1974. Jonson, B. “To Penshurst.” Poetry Foundation. 2013. Web. 27 Dec 2013. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181031. Jonson, B. “On My First Daughter.” Poetry Foundation. 2013. Web. 27 Dec 2013. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/181022. The Norton Anthology of Poetry, 3rd ed. (1983). Herrick, R. “Upon Julia’s Clothes.” Poetry Foundation. 2013. Web. 28 Dec 2013. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176777. Herrick, R. “Delight in Disorder.” Poetry Foundation. 2013. Web. 28 Dec 2013. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/176697. Read More