Transcript Unit Three “Rakes and Poets”

Unit Three
“Rakes and Poets”
Lecture Three: Earlier Poets
Stereotypical Restoration Literature
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very small part of what was happening in
literature.
a small circle of the aristocracy and Court
circles.
this small group of taste-makers had the
freedom that money and power grants.
Characteristics of Cavalier Poetry
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Cultivated but colloquial idiom - written with
the ease of a noble
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Artificially urbane refinement and elegant
symmetry of form instead of feeling
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Indebtedness to the lighter Latin poets Catullus, Horace, Ovid
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Strong sensuous and worldly quality. These
were pagazined sophisticates
foreshadowing the amorality of the
Restoration.
Restoration Writers
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The religious strife of their parents’
generation and their own childhood has
left them questioning many aspects of life,
religion and philosophy.
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Many were exploring Deism (atheism was
something hard for them to imagine at this
stage), and others were jaded by the
sexual excesses of both the French Court
and their life as exiles.
Loss of Moral Touchstones
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Living in exile is rather like being in war.
You tend to give up on some of the old
moral touchstones.
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If you think you might never have a home,
a life, you learn to look for satisfaction in
other places.
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A famous Cavalier poem from the war
years reminds us: “Eat, drink and be
merry, for tomorrow we may die.”
Cavalier Hero
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Alfred Harbage, the Cavalier of popular
imagination was “a merry, fearless,
improvident goodfellow, morally eclectic
but aboveboard withall”.
Other Cavalier Qualities
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a staunch Tory
politically conservative
faithful servant of the Stuart family.
Loyal to Charles II and usually James
as well, they were both very aware of,
and very appreciative of,
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class distinctions,
manners
wit.
Cavalier Sexuality
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Cavaliers were also popularly seen as
romantic rovers who believed that
sexuality was natural and overwhelming,
and as such, beyond the control of
institutions such as religion.
Sexuality must also be free from social
constraints like marriage and constancy.
Frank and Vulgar
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The poetry of the Restoration is crude and
vulgar on many levels.
Scatology, frank sexuality, and even
sexual contempt and hatred have honored
places in Restoration poetry because they
vigorously and forcefully express dislike of
unthinking conformity, hypocrisy, and
pretense
They frankly represent the sexual vigor
and strong feelings of men and women
Sex as a Weapon
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The wits of Charles's court could mock
others because they could mock
themselves and their king
Their libertine sentiments are very close to
the sources of their poetry--not only of
their amatory verse but also of their
political satire
Private Mirrors the Public
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During this period, private wrong-doing
was thought to mirror public misdeeds
Sexual satire was a totally acceptable
weapon to use against one’s enemies.
Pastoral Mode
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"Pastoral" (from pastor, Latin for
"shepherd") refers to a literary work
dealing with shepherds and rustic life.
Pastoral poetry is highly conventionalized;
it presents an idealized rather than
realistic view of rustic life.
Classical Sources
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Greek and Latin pastoral works date
back to the 3rd century B.C.
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Greek poet Theocritus wrote his Idylls about
the rustic life of Sicily for the sophisticated
citizens of the city of Alexandria.
In the first century B.C., Virgil wrote Latin
poems depicting himself and his equally
sophisticated friends and acquaintances
as shepherds living a simple, rural life.
Common Topics of Pastoral
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love and seduction
the value of poetry
death and mourning
the corruption of the city or court vs. the
"purity" of idealized country life
politics
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generally treated satirically: the "shepherds"
critique society or easily identifiable political
figures.
Eclogue
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a dialogue between two shepherds.
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may be between a shepherd and the
shepherdess he loves
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a "singing contest" to see which shepherd is the
better poet (a third may act as judge)
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sophisticated banter between two supposedly
"rude swains" who discuss a lady, their flocks,
or a current event
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lament a dead friend (a eulogy or elegy); or
praise a notable individual.
Monologue Form
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Laudatory poems, laments upon a death,
songs of courtship and the complaints of a
lovesick shepherd also occur as pastoral
monologues.
Purely Artistic Device
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It creates a distancing effect which allows
the poet to step back from and critique
society.
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The artificiality of pastoral poetry is most
explicit in the courtly language and dress
of the "shepherds”
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better fit the drawing rooms of polite society
than the hills, swamps and sheepfolds of real
rustic life.
Charles Sackville, Earl of Dorset
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Born 1638,died 1706.
influential participant in Charles II's
"ministry of pleasure”
ended his career as
high-ranking but
uninfluential member
of King William III's
cabinet.
Not Only Patron but Poet
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Included in Johnson’s The Lives of the
Poets.
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Johnson valued him very little,
Dryden's Discourse Concerning the
Original and Progress of Satire (1693),
ranked Dorset as a rival of the ancients in
satire.
Two Best Satires
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“Colon” (1679) about the end days of
Charles II’s reign
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"A Faithful Catalogue of our most Eminent
Ninnies" (1687) about James II’s reign.
Life After Charles II
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Part of James’s coronation
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tried to retire as he was not truly a full
supporter of the Catholic James.
At William and Mary’s coronations,
member of the honor escort of Princess
Anne,
During this period as a loyal Whig, a
member of the Kit Cat Club, and patron
of many writers.
Best Known Work
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The ballad “To All You Ladies Now at
Land”
Written while he was at sea with the Duke
of York during the Dutch Wars.
A Fop
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A fop is a man who doesn’t “get it”
Wants to be fashionable and in the “incrowd” but is always a little off
A figure of fun
Will cover further next week
Countess of Dorchester
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Katherine Sedley, daughter of his old drinking
companion Sir Charles Sedley.
Irritated Dorset for several reasons:
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She was a rather plain woman, and he liked them
beautiful
second, she was not only extremely witty but
intelligent and better read than many women of
her day,
Finally, she was for a time a mistress of James II,
for whom Dorset had little respect.
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester
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More infamous than famous
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Wrote scurrilous lampoons, translations of
classical authors, and several
autobiographical poems.
Rochester and Sex
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A predecessor to the Marquis De Sade
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Wrote more frankly about sex than anyone
in English before the 20th Century
His Poetry
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metanymic poet, one who seeks
intellectual links
as opposed to a metaphoric poet (fl. 174089), the “poets of sensibility” (Northrup
Frye’s term), those who seek emotional
links.
David Lodge
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Modes of Modern Writing, very significant
critical work.
Famous for non-fiction as well. See his
novel Small World, a satire of academic
life.
Metanymic
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he defines as having few words, rhythm is
important
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like Racine’s work
there’s a precision in the writing.
Metaphoric
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has a great abundance of vocabulary and
lots of freedom in placement
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like the metaphysical poets.
Rochester, 1647 to 1680
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"in a course of drunken gaiety and gross
sensuality, with intervals of study perhaps
yet more criminal, with an avowed
contempt of decency and order, a total
disregard to every moral, and a resolute
denial of every religious observation, he
lived worthless and useless, and blazed
out his youth and health in lavish
voluptuousness”
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Samuel Johnson
Background
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Mother from a Parliamentarian family.
Father, a hard-drinking Royalist from
Anglo-Irish stock
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had been created Earl of Rochester in 1652
for military services to Charles II during his
exile under the Commonwealth;
he died abroad in 1658, two years before the
restoration of monarchy in England,
Rochester inherited the earldom when 11
University and Beyond
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At 12 went to Oxford, and that’s where he `grew
debauched'.
At 14 he was conferred with the degree of M.A.
by the Earl of Clarendon, Chancellor to the
University
 Rochester's uncle.
After a tour of France and Italy, he returned to
London, where he joined the Court.
Courage in sea-battle against the Dutch made
him a hero.
Elopement from Pepys’s Diary
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" my Lord Rochester's running away on
Friday night last with Mrs Mallet, the great
beauty and fortune of the North, who had
supped at Whitehall with Mrs Stewart, and
was going home to her lodgings with her
grandfather, my Lord Haly, by coach;
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con’t
Pepys' Diary, 28 May 1665:
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and was at Charing Cross seized on by both
horse and footmen, and forcibly taken from him,
and put into a coach with six horses, and two
women provided to receive her, and carried
away. Upon immediate pursuit, my Lord of
Rochester (for whom the King had spoke to the
lady often, but with no success) was taken at
Uxbridge; but the lady is not yet heard of, and
the King mighty angry and the Lord sent to the
Tower."
Married Malet 1667
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Rochester's life after his marriage is
divided between domesticity in the country
and a riotous existence at Court
The “Merry Gang”
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Term coined by Andrew Marvell, a Puritan,
called them.
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The gang flourished for about fifteen years
after 1665 and included Henry Jermyn,
Sackville, John Sheffield Earl of Mulgrave,
Henry Killigrew, Sir Charles Sedley, the
playwrights Wycherley and Etherege, as
well as George Villiers, Duke of
Buckingham.
His “Talents”
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At Court, he was renowned for
drunkenness, vivacious conversation, and
"extravagant frolics"
Deathbed Conversion?
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At the age of thirty-three, as Rochester lay
dying - from syphilis, most likely- his
mother had him attended by the famous
Anglican Bishop Gilbert Burnet
Deathbed renunciation of atheism was
published by the Bishop. This became
legendary, reappearing in numerous pious
tracts over the next two centuries.
Literary Admires
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Defoe quoted him widely and often.
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Tennyson would recite from him with fervour.
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Voltaire admired Rochester's satire for 'energy and fire'
and translated some lines into French to 'display the
shining imagination his lordship only could boast'.
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Goethe could quote Rochester in English, and cited his
lines to epitomise the intensely 'mournful region' he
encountered in English poetry.
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Hazlitt judged that 'his verses cut and sparkle like
diamonds', while 'his contempt for everything that others
respect almost amounts to sublimity'.
Aphra Behn
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She was sometimes known as “Astrea”
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the first woman to really make her name
as a writer.
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1640?-1689
Important Role Model
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"All women ought to let flowers fall upon
the tomb of Aphra Behn . . . for it was she
who earned them the right to speak their
minds”
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Virigina Woolf
First woman to make her living as a
playwright
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cookbook writers were first professional
women writers
Hidden Early Life
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Spy for the Stuarts
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Thrown into debtor’s prison
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Plays were fun:
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The Rover
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Emperor of the Moon
Reviled by many contemporary males as
well as females:
Gould’s Satire
Yet Hackney writers, when their own verse did fail
To get 'em Brandy, Bread and Cheese and Ale,
Their wants by Prostitution were supply'd,
Shew but a Tester, you might up and ride:
For Punk and Poetess agree so Pat,
You cannot well be This and not be That.
Novel Innovator
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When the novel was created is a huge literary
question, but she was certainly one of the
innovators.
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We’ll be reading her most famous is Oroonoko
(1688) and another
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Also wrote laudatory poems as well as a poetry
translation of Aesop’s fables.
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A new edition of her works has been put out over
the past 10 years, edited by Janet Todd
Double Standard
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Reviled for her “warmth,” but as she wrote
no more bawdily than most of her peers
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Much more chaste than some, including
the two we’re reading today.