English Literature Blog

Class3 : James Boswell and James Thomson (pp. 2860-2862, 2778-2810)

《格列佛遊記Gulliver's Travels》 不只是童話故事

http://musewu.blogspot.com/2009/06/gullivers-travels.html

Class III: Sir Richard Steele & Joseph Addison

PARADISE LOST ~ A BRIEF OVERVIEW

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莎士比亞《第十二夜》簡介

莎士比亞《李爾王》簡介

Thomas Campion 1567-1620

Thomas Campion, pp. 1228-1231

        Thomas Campion’s poem “There Is a Garden in Her Face” consists of three stanzas in the same metrical pattern. The poet uses words associated with gardens to describe the woman’s beauty. He uses similes and metaphors throughout to describe the beauty that beholds this magnificent woman. The poet compliments the woman on her beauty in the most extravagant terms. But the woman cannot be as perfect and as beautiful as the speaker makes her out to be so it gives it a sense of falseness and makes the reader think that he is just dreaming of this woman. The subject of the speaker's affection is idolized beyond reality and is placed so high upon a pedestal that she is virtually unattainable. He speaks of her as if she is a goddess, and that no woman can match her. However, he feels it necessary to warn her suitors, himself included, that the lady will not permit anyone to approach her more closely until she indicates that she is ready for him to do so.( Till "Cherry ripe" themselves do cry.line 6,12,18)

The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in sixteenth and early seventeenth century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio (a public version of the masque was the pageant.) Masque involved music and dancing, singing and acting, within an elaborate stage design, in which the architectural framing and costumes might be designed by a renowned architect, to present a deferential allegory flattering to the patron. Professional actors and musicians were hired for the speaking and singing parts. Often, the masquers who did not speak or sing were courtiers: James I's Queen Consort, Anne of Denmark, frequently danced with her ladies in masques between 1603 and 1611, and Henry VIII and Charles I performed in the masques at their courts. In the tradition of masque, Louis XIV danced in ballets at Versailles with music by Lully.

Sonnet 130

What is the ultimate source of political power?

James I, 1566–1625, king of England (1603–25) and, as James VI, of Scotland (1567–1625). James's reign witnessed the beginnings of English colonization in North America (Jamestown was founded in 1607) and the plantation of Scottish settlers in Ulster.

The early seventeenth century extends from the accession of the first Stuart king (James I) in 1603 to the coronation of the third (Charles II) in 1660. But the events that occurred between these boundaries make much more sense if they are seen in a larger pattern extending from 1588 to 1688. Between these two dates massive political and social events took place that bridge the gap between the Tudor “tyranny by consent” of the sixteenth century and the equally ill-defined but equally functional constitutional monarchy of the eighteenth century.

A sense of deep disquiet, of traditions under challenge, is felt everywhere in the literary culture of the early 17th century. Long before the term was applied to our own time, the era of Donne and Robert Burton (the obsessive anatomist of melancholy) deserved to be called the Age of Anxiety. One may think of the “Metaphysical” poets who followed Donne (such as Herbert, Crashaw, Vaugham, and Cowley) as trying to reinforce the traditional lyric forms of love and devotion by stretching them to comprehend new and extreme intellectual energies. In the other direction, Jonson and his “sons” the so-called Cavalier poets (such as Herrick, Suckling, Lovelace, Waller, and Denham) generally tried to compress and limit their poems, giving them a high polish and a sense of easy domination at the expense of their intellectual content.  The common contrast of Cavalier with Metaphysical does describe two poetic alternatives of the early century.  Yet both style were wholly inadequate containers for the sort of gigantic energy that Milton was trying to express.