The Jacobean Era

1. The Jacobean Era (1603-1625)

2. Historical Context • Death of Elizabeth I, succeeded by James Stuart in 1603 • Deep religious and political unrest in England • English Puritans => America • Political ferment in the House of Commons • Philosophical and intellectual changes • Modern astronomy- Copernicus and Galileo • Undermining of faith and older world view (divinely ordered universe, Great Chain of Being)

3. Metaphysical Poetry

4. Origins • Definition of “metaphysical”: highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse • The term "metaphysical," as applied to the group of seventeenth-century English poets, was used by Augustan poets John Dryden and Samuel Johnson to reprove those poets for their "unnaturalness.” • Intellectual and theological concepts

5. Definitions • Metaphysical conceit- an unusual and intellectual metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. Extended simile. • Paradox- an apparent contradiction which turns out on close inspection to yield a valuable perception or reveal a kind of truth

6. Characteristics • Tendency toward psychological analysis of the emotions of love and religion • Characterized as intellectual, analytical, psychological, disillusioning, bold • Desired to express honestly, if unconventionally, the poet’s sense of the complexities and contradictions of life • Verbal wit and excess • Extended, elaborate, highly intellectual imagery

7. From “Meditation 17” • “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne

8. Cavalier Poetry

9. Definitions of “cavalier” • n.- A gallant or chivalrous man, especially one serving as escort to a woman of high social position; a gentleman. • adj. - Carefree and nonchalant; jaunty. • 17th century Cavalier poets were soldiers and courtiers first, authors only incidentally. • Ideal of the Renaissance man

10. Characteristics • Lighthearted in tone, secular in subject matter • Graceful, melodious, polished in manner • Licentious • Witty • Cynical • Courtly themes of love, war, chivalry, loyalty • Response to death: “carpe diem”

11. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he's a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he's to setting. That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worse, and worst Times still succeed the former. 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. -Robert Herrick